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Following is a speech (English only) by the Financial Secretary, Mr Donald Tsang, at the opening of the Helping Business Symposium for deputy secretaries and deputy heads of government departments organised by the Business and Services Promotion Unit (BSPU) at the Central Government Offices New Annex today (Monday):

"As you know I have been rather busy recently dealing with a few minor problems that have cropped up here and there. And some of them have a tendency to re-emerge from time to time, so we have to stay alert and nail them. Nonetheless, I am more than happy to make the time to attend this Symposium today.

Some of you may remember that I introduced the Helping Business Programme in my first Budget Speech in 1996 when I asked the then Secretary for the Treasury to head a Working Group to conduct seven pilot studies. I referred to it again in the 1997 Budget Speech when I announced our intention to set up a dedicated Business and Services Promotion Unit to carry the Programme forward. I spoke on the same subject again this year when I mentioned some of the achievements to date.

These are things that you see. What you do not see are the frequent sessions I have with the BSPU behind the scenes so that I can keep track of the Programme on an ongoing basis. There are also close contacts with the business community on a virtually daily basis.

Let there be no doubt about the total commitment of this Administration to creating the most business friendly environment in the world. The responsibility for achieving this rests not with the BSPU alone but with each and every one of us, hence this Symposium today. It is a direct follow-up of a similar Symposium we held for Heads of Department last November. In some ways, this symposium designed for our senior directorate at the deputy level is more significant, since we all know who do most of the work and thinking in this Administration.

Let there be no doubt, either, about the plaudits that our Helping Business Programme is receiving from the commercial world. In letters, in telephone calls, in conversations at cocktail parties, I am constantly receiving comments from individual business leaders confirming that our efforts are appreciated and do have a positive impact.

I spoke just now about the short term crises which - inevitably - take up a lot of my time. But we must none of us lose sight of long term imperatives. The creators of wealth are our businessmen. The more friendly the environment we create for them, the more quickly we can get our economy back onto its traditional growth trajectory. We must help them to find ways to do things better, faster and cheaper, to locate new market niches for their products and, most important, to make new and high value added products for the changing world.

All this in turn means more resources for the Government without our having to use up a disproportionate share of GDP. As dedicated public servants - which we all are - we naturally wish to do more for the community. This is how we can secure the resources we need to provide those better services. That is why we must nurture the business sector. That is why we must all learn to think in their wavelengths, and, without spoiling them with subsidies, to act as their partners, their facilitators and not merely their regulators. This mark my advice: Think thrice when you want to say 'no' to a creative yet legitimate business proposition which tends to break new ground or create more work for the Administration. Here lies, in my view, the true meaning of public service.

So let us settle back and listen to our speakers. And work together with them to help achieve our own objectives by helping business."

End/Monday, September 21, 1998

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