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Following is the speech (English only) delivered by the Financial Secretary, Mr Donald Tsang, at the Commission on Strategic Development Seminar today (Monday):

Chief Executive, Commission members, distinguished guests,

I, too, share the view that it is not often we have the opportunity to draw together such a distinguished and disparate group of business and community leaders. A congregation of visionaries who, I hope, will help us to realise our strategy for Hong Kong's future.

Once again, in the remarkable history of this remarkable city we have arrived at a crossroads. To borrow that most famous of quotes from Hamlet, we are now pondering: "To be, or not to be?"

To be what? As Bill Overholt so persuasively and sarcastically argued in his recent research report, Hong Kong has the potential 'to be' either a peer of New York and London, or the greatest of the Third World cities. Hong Kong has always been a restless, bustling, cosmopolitan place; always looking to get ahead. And over the course of our history, Hong Kong people have rarely, if ever, settled for second best. I believe that given a choice, the community clearly aspires 'to be' up there - where it belongs - with the very best in the first world, rather than 'not to be'. So I take it as a given that this is where we all agree we should be heading.

But we should also realise the future is not something that we enter - it is something that we create. To achieve our goal of World City status will require concerted, committed and continuous effort. To achieve our goal we must have the determination and courage - and confidence in ourselves - to push ahead with bold and sometimes painful reforms and initiatives across the entire spectrum of our economy.

And to ensure success, we need to have the full support and involvement of the community in this process. In taking this course, the government must devote greater efforts to publicise, explain and, most importantly, gain support for our strategy for development. This will involve closer co-operation with the private sector, the legislature and the public. At the same time, it will require greater efforts from the community to work with the government in implementing workable - I stress workable - plans for the future.

Let me give you an example. I will use the environment because it is a recurring concern in the Commission's report. Everyone wants a cleaner environment. And everyone has to play their part in making this happen. We can walk to lunch in Central instead of driving; we can take the MTR to our next meeting instead of a taxi; and we can use recycled paper for photocopying.

7. It might seem a rather simplistic argument but at least it illustrates the relevance and benefit of the 'World City' goal to the people of Hong Kong. A better living environment means a better quality of life, and a better quality of life is an asset for Hong Kong, as a community, as an international business centre and as a popular tourism destination. But it won't happen unless everyone willingly chips in. Everybody shares in a community of purpose, which in itself engenders a sense of community.

Maintaining the momentum of reform is another example. The Asian financial crisis gave us a window of opportunity to embark upon wide-ranging improvements to our economic fabric. We have done a lot but we should be doing more, and more aggressively, in the public and private sectors. The stock and futures exchanges and clearing houses are being merged into a single entity; the banking sector is being further liberalised and uncompetitive interest rates rules are being abolished; the monetary base has been widened to provide a greater buffer against attacks on our currency, and Exchange Fund data has been made more readily available.

Innovation and technology and their derivatives such as e-commerce and the Internet, have been enthusiastically embraced from the boardrooms to our youngsters. Our telecommunications sector now ranks amongst the most open and competitive anywhere in the world. And we are including the public sector in our reforms, removing outdated provisions, freeing up salaries and conditions of service. Making it more efficient for management to take decisions on a whole range of issues from budgets to staffing matters.

We all agree, now, that this is the right way forward. We all agree, now, that Hong Kong's survival depends on reforms such as these. But do we really understand that it was our own complacency - government included - during the good times in the 1990s that eventually led to such a rude shock during the financial crisis? When the share market's global ranking slipped; when the banks were being squeezed; when the currency was under attack - only then, did we stop thinking about how good we were, and start thinking about how good we should be.

Now is the time to set out what we want to achieve in the years ahead. Now is the time to be clear about the kind of Hong Kong we want to see for our future generations. Now is the time to show how we mean to prepare for that future. And this is really at the heart of the Commission's report. That is, setting in train a system of ongoing evaluation and reform. In carrying out its task, the Commission deliberately did not set out to re-invent the wheel. Rather, it set out key considerations and directions for the future. It builds on Hong Kong's traditional strengths and expands on the initiatives and reforms that have been implemented or announced in the past few years.

Given this background, the Commission's report is a 'living document'. Its emphasis is on four strategic and interrelated themes:

* strengthening our links with the Mainland, an initiative which promises exciting opportunities, particularly in helping to establish a fully integrated city-region within the Pearl River Delta;

* enhancing our competitiveness, something we must do across a broad front;

* improving the quality of life. And there is much more to this than cleaning up the environment, important though this is; and

* reinforcing our identity and image, both within and outside Hong Kong.

As you can see, all these will require periodic re-shaping and re-branding to keep Hong Kong at the forefront of global trends and developments. And this is reinforced by the Commission which believes we must focus our efforts on a small number of priority economic sectors which are critical to our long term growth and success. I have already mentioned the work we have done, or are doing, in our financial services sector. But there is a lot more we can do in, for instance, the creative and cultural area and tourism.

Essentially, the four key themes hold the promise of Hong Kong. The future we are building is more than bricks and mortar and the e-revolution. More than a dynamic, resourceful, innovative and tireless metropolis. It is a truly cosmopolitan city embodying a caring, compassionate and tolerant society.

But what the Commission's report does not - and cannot - do is instil in each and every one of us the sense of urgency and commitment to 'bringing the vision to life'. And we are all looking forward to hearing the views of our colleagues from the Commission on their thinking in each of these four areas.

Hong Kong's future development and direction will not - and cannot - be driven by the government alone. It cannot be driven by decree handed down from on high. It must be a collaborative effort involving us all - that's all seven million of us. Co-operation, not coercion, will drive this process.

I strongly urge all of you here today, and the wider Hong Kong community, to share your views and ideas with us. As the noted English novelist and playwright, John Galsworthy, once observed - "If you do not think about the future you cannot have one." In our case, a global city where labour is rewarded, where ideas are valued, and where the people who supply them are made to feel at home.

So, our greatest challenge is not whether Hong Kong can become a World City - I believe that we can. Rather, our greatest challenge is whether we can galvanise community resolve, rekindle our traditional spirit of adventure, and be prepared to sacrifice a little now to gain much more in the future. In the process we will be safeguarding Hong Kong's way of life; producing material and cultural benefits, but also incorporating all the values that we cherish. If we can do that, then Hong Kong will not only be a peer of London and New York, it might well be in a class of its own.

Thank You.

End/Monday, February 21, 2000

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