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Following is the transcript of the media session by the Acting Chief Executive, Mrs Anson Chan, and the Deputy Chairman of the Asian Games Bid Committee, Mr Timothy Fok, after the first meeting of Asian Games Bid Committee this (Monday) morning (English portion):
Mrs Chan: As you know, since we announced our intention to make a bid to host the 2006 Asian Games, we have been making active preparation. We have now appointed a Bid Committee to assist SF&OC to prepare for the bid. And we just had our first meeting this morning. I am very glad that we have the help of leaders in the sports, international business and tourism sectors. And I can tell you that we are all determined and confident that Hong Kong will put together a very competitive bid. There is a great deal of work involved in the three months ahead. For example, the Bid Committee with the assistance of consultants will examine in detail the financing arrangements, sports and ancillary facilities, transportation and the organisational framework. This is a very important task to be completed within an extremely tight time frame. As Chairman of the Bid Committee, I will personally oversee the work. The Government will give SF&OC its full support, but cross-sectoral community partnership among the public, business and sports sectors is also very, very necessary. We are fully aware of the keen competition from neighbouring countries. We need at the end of the day to be able to convince the Olympic Council of Asia of our competence and determination to host a world class Asian Games in 2006. And we expect that there will be some intensive lobbying involved. We will, of course, brief the Legislative Council and the public on our detailed proposals when these are ready. We will also need LegCo's approval of the required financial commitments. A few elements are crucial here. And I would just like briefly to stress these: firstly, our managerial competence and expertise. Hong Kong is very strong on that. Secondly, we have a clear edge over other competitors in being the transportation and communication hub of the region. Thirdly, sports facilities. Our consultants' preliminary assessment already confirmed that Hong Kong's facilities, with suitable upgrading and enhancement, will be up to the required international standard.
Reporter: Mrs Chan, I get two more questions on a local and regional side. The regional side is we are now not only competing against other cities, we are actually competing against other nations, what kind of strategy can you employ, how can you overcome what they can bring?
Mrs Chan: Ask me this question again in a few months' time and I will be able to give you the full details. It is clearly an area that we are looking at. We will be having three sub-committees to look into, first of all, putting together the bid document itself. Secondly, the whole question of venues and facilities, including accommodation for the athletes. And thirdly and equally importantly, the whole question of publicity and lobbying efforts and how we sell Hong Kong. But I think most people accept that Hong Kong has a "can-do" spirit. When we put our minds to doing something, you can be sure that we will put in our best effort and that we will win at the end of the day.
Reporter: Mrs Chan, the second part of my question if I could, which is the local part, do you expect the support of the Legislative Council? How would you get that without releasing the full report of the economic consultants?
Mrs Chan: We've already undertaken to release both the original report by our Government Economist, and also the report from the financial consultants. So when the report has been completed in about April, we have time to consider it. We will at a suitable time make available both documents, but because you are quite right, we need those documents to convince our legislators to support this whole venture, but I repeat again, the Government is prepared to put in everything that we require to put in a successful bid, but we require the support of the sporting people and also the community and our legislature.
Acting Chief Executive's transcript (Chinese Part)
End/Monday, March 6, 2000
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