****************************************************

The Chief Executive, Mr Tung Chee Hwa, today (Thursday) called on every sector of the community to take early action to rectify their own computer and embedded systems and to prepare for possible disruptions arising from non-compliance of their business partners before the arrival of the new millennium.

Addressing the Symposium on Y2K Readiness of Hong Kong, co-organised by the Hong Kong Productivity Council and the Information Technology and Broadcasting Bureau, Mr Tung said that as the deadline of the year 2000 drew near, the "Millennium Bug" problem had become the global focus.

"Hong Kong is an advanced city where information technology is widely used in all trades and in all areas of our daily life; therefore, the potential impact of the 'Millennium Bug' problem on us can be very extensive," Mr Tung said.

"We are confident that we will be able to minimise its adverse impact if we are well prepared and have formulated appropriate contingency plans before the arrival of year 2000," he added.

Mr Tung told the Symposium that the Government had taken a series of action to ensure that Hong Kong was well prepared for it. These include the completion of rectification work on all mission-critical systems within the Government by the middle of this year so that Government services would not be disrupted by the Millennium Bug problem.

Policy bureaux and departments are also closely monitoring the rectification progress of non-Government organisations which provide essential services to ensure that they can solve the problem before the year 2000 arrives.

The Government has also actively encouraged these organisations to publish their compliance progress so as to increase the degree of transparency and thereby reassure the community.

But Mr Tung pointed out that co-operation was necessary in solving the problem because "if an institution cannot rectify the problem in time, the normal operation of other institutions with which it transacts business may be affected ".

"In view of this chain effect, I urge every sector of the community, apart from taking early action to rectify their own computer and embedded systems, to communicate and discuss with their business partners and to draw up contingency plans, as appropriate, to prepare for possible disruptions from their non-compliant partners," Mr Tung said.

Also addressing the Symposium, the Secretary for Information Technology and Broadcasting, Mr K C Kwong, outlined Hong Kong's readiness to tackle the Y2K problems.

Mr Kwong stressed that the Government attached great importance to the rectification work. As at the end of 1998, 85 per cent of the Government's mission-critical computer had been confirmed to be compliant or had been rectified.

"Our target is to achieve compliance of all our mission-critical system by June 1999 to ensure that essential Government services will not be affected by the problems," he said.

"Other organisations which provide essential services to the public are also targeting the middle of this year for completion of the rectification work ."

According to a survey conducted by the Hong Kong Productivity Council in September last year, over 98 per cent of the private companies surveyed, mostly small and medium-sized enterprises, are aware of the problem. About 57 per cent are affected by the problem, of which two-thirds are taking action to tackle the problem and expect to achieve compliance before the new millennium arrives.

Mr Kwong pointed out that even though every sector of the community had taken positive steps to rectify the problems, comprehensive contingency plans had to be worked out to deal with the possible chain effect.

He said, " The Information Technology and Broadcasting Bureau and other related policy bureaux and departments have set up a working group on Y2K contingency planning to work out a comprehensive plan and co-ordinate the appropriate measures.

"From time to time, we shall inform the public of the progress in our rectification work. We shall also continue our efforts to encourage those organisations which provide public services to publish the progress in their own compliance work so as to increase their transparency and reassure the community ," he added.

End/Thursday, January 21, 1999

NNNN