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The following supersedes GIS981005015 issued at 12.35 pm today (Monday). The first sentence of the second paragraph of the speech should read:

"Last year was an unusually challenging and difficult year for the Civil Service as it was for the community as a whole."

The revised speech is as follows: -

Following is a speech by the Chief Secretary for Administration, Mrs Anson Chan, at the launch of the 1998 Progress Report today (Monday):

Ladies and gentlemen,

Today, I am pleased to present the 1998 Progress Report.

Last year was an unusually challenging and difficult year for the Civil Service as it was for the community as a whole. The problems we had to grapple with were unprecedented and their impact on the well-being of our community was widespread and severe. For example, the avian 'flu is a new strain of virus found in the human body. There is no previous experience to draw on. We took decisive actions to prevent the possible outbreak of a global epidemic. Of course, there were areas where we could have done better with hindsight. But on the whole, we were able to overcome this crisis and were in deed commended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States and other international health organisations for our decisive action.

When the Asian financial turmoil first began, no one could have predicted its magnitude and contagion effects on the world economy. Hong Kong has not experienced such a severe economic adjustment process in recent memory. In defending our financial and monetary systems we have taken some controversial decisions, in particular the counter-measures we carried out in August. We understand of course that there is a price to pay but these measures were generally endorsed by the community. And there is a growing body of international opinion supporting our move.

I cite these examples not to exculpate ourselves but to try and put matters in perspective. The problems confronting us called for courage and decisive action and we have tried to respond accordingly. Clearly we have learned from the experiences. We in the Civil Service have to constantly remind ourselves that we must always find better ways of doing things. We must be sympathetic to the plight of the community, continue to reach out and respond positively to the public's growing aspiration and sharpen our crisis management skills. Internally we must strive for a leaner and more productive civil service.

In our policy making process, the Government has to balance the views of different groups in the community. In doing so, our decisions are guided by what we believe to be in the best and long term interests of Hong Kong. At the same time, we are committed to an open, transparent and accountable government. It is in this same spirit of openness, transparency and accountability that we continue to publish the Progress Report setting out both our achievements and our failures for public scrutiny.

The Report shows that of a total of 961 pledges, 96% have either been met or are well on target, with only 4% falling behind schedule. I will ask my colleagues to take all possible measures to catch up with those items where we are lagging behind.

In two days' time, the Chief Executive will deliver his second Policy Address. As with last year, this will be followed by briefings by all Policy Secretaries, the Secretary for Justice and Commissioner ICAC on their work plans and targets. We welcome views from the media and the community at large to enable us to perform our duties better.

Thank you.

End/Monday, October 5, 1998

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