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Following is the full text of the welcoming address delivered by the Director of Information Technology Services, Mr Lau Kam-hung, at the Information Technology User Group session of the "Electronic Government in the New Millennium" Conference organised by the Information Technology Services Department (ITSD) today (Wednesday):

Mr. French and colleagues,

On behalf of the Information Technology Services Department, I would like to extend our warmest welcome to you all to the first annual meeting of the Information Technology User Group (ITUG) which is being held on this special occasion of my department's 10th anniversary.

Our Policy Objective on information technology (IT) in the Chief Executive's 1999 Policy Address is to enhance and promote Hong Kong's information infrastructure and services so as to make Hong Kong a leading digital city in the globally connected world of the 21st century.

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government will lead by example. We are committed to the promotion of Government's own IT skills and capabilities. We will enhance and extend the use of IT to improve the efficiency and quality of Government's services. For example, the Electronic Services Delivery (ESD) scheme is an integration of the services across government departments. Through the ESD scheme, we strive to achieve greater efficiency and productivity in the delivery of public services.

In achieving our Policy Objective in IT, the ITUG would play an important role in facilitating the use of information technologies within the Government. It would also provide useful feedback and ideas for the continuous improvement in the application and management of IT.

When the Desktop Technology User Group (DTUG) was formed two years ago, one of its objectives was to improve ITSD's services to you, the users, and to make more effective use of the desktop technology in Government. The User Group had shared experience among government bureaux and departments and made useful suggestions on issues related to desktop technology management, such as the need for and the timing of the introduction of newer desktop technologies in their offices. Advice from the DTUG also served as a valuable reference for ITSD's forward planning of its service-wide desktop technology initiatives.

Through their participation in the User Group, DTUG members had achieved better understanding of the benefits, limitations and issues involved in the use of various desktop technologies as well as kept pace with such technologies. They exercised influence on and participated in the application of these technologies to the design, implementation and operation of government IT systems. And this had facilitated on the whole a more proactive approach in Government's planning and use of information technologies in the past two years.

Today, the User Group has become a successful and effective mechanism to attract the interests and contribution from bureaux and departments. As an example, the improvement being made to the IT procurement arrangement was developed from the good work and recommendation of the Special Interest Sub-group on Procurement Strategy. As another example, the Special Interest Sub-group on Technology Migration Strategy had contributed to the software evaluation of new products that would have much impact on government office automation. I have more examples, but I do not wish to take up too much of your time to go through them one by one here. So, I would like to express my sincere appreciation to the Executive Committee and all the Special Interest Sub-groups of the DTUG that have done all the wonderful work. The User Group has matured and is moving on to an extended scope which the new ITUG will foster in the years ahead. I would like to assure you that my department will continue to give the ITUG its full support.

The new millennium will be full of interesting and fascinating developments especially in the arena of the electronic society. Let us join hands to make Hong Kong a leading digital city in the globally connected world. I am sure that the ITUG will continue to achieve very good results.

Thank you.

End/Wednesday, November 17, 1999

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