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Following is a speech by the Secretary for Information Technology and Broadcasting, Mrs Carrie Yau, at the ISO 9001:2000 Certificate Award Ceremony for the Information Technology Services Department today (April 11):

Dr. Ng, Mr. Lau, Ladies and Gentlemen,

First of all, I would like to thank the Director of Information Technology Services, Mr K H Lau for inviting me to this ISO 9001:2000 Certificate Award Ceremony. I am delighted to be here to celebrate the event with you.

Quality is no doubt a crucial element in today's marketplace and by achieving a high standard, customer satisfaction will be improved, competitive power raised and productivity increased. Since implementing an effective quality management system some years ago, the Information Technology Services Department (ITSD) has shown that this will help in the provision of quality services to other government departments and the public.

ISO 9000 is an international standard for quality management systems. It specifies the quality system requirements and provides a framework to establish, document and maintain an effective quality management system in order to meet client requirements and to achieve customer satisfaction. The ISO 9001 year 2000 version emphasises continual improvement and customer satisfaction, which is in line with our objective of "Serving the Community with Quality".

Being the first IT organisation to be awarded the ISO 9001:2000 certificate by the Hong Kong Quality Assurance Agency, ITSD will act as a role model for the IT industry. The success of ITSD in achieving this ISO certification will help to raise awareness within the Hong Kong IT industry of the importance of software quality for enhancing productivity and efficiency so as to maintain its competitiveness.

Hong Kong's future economic growth will hinge on leveraging its capabilities in information technology and its related activities. I believe that quality is the key to our success. The investment we make in quality management on IT today can help to build a solid foundation for future growth and to pave the way for a better tomorrow.

In closing, I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate ITSD for its effort to achieve the first ISO 9001:2000 certificate award. I am sure ITSD will continuously improve its services within Government and to the community.

Finally, I would also like to take this opportunity to compliment Mr Lau who will retire at the end of this month after serving for 32 years in the civil service. He has been the Director of ITSD in the last eight years and has made significant contributions in leading the department to improve the quality of its service, drive the development of e-government, help foster a strong local IT industry and encourage the wider use of IT in the community. I would like to wish him a happy retirement after all these years of hard and dedicated work. While K H will be able to spend more time with his family, no doubt he will keep a close watch on our work to continue to drive the development of Hong Kong as a leading digital city, and give us all his moral support.

Thank you.

END/Wednesday, April 11, 2001

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