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Following is the transcript of the media session by the Chief Executive, Mr Tung Chee Hwa, after his visit to Tsuen Wan and Kowloon Tong this (November 28) afternoon:

Reporter: Mr Tung, how bad do you think things will become in light that the US is now officially in recession, and secondly, can I ask you the question about one of the citizens refuses to shake hands with you?

Mr Tung: The US economy is in a slowdown and of course this affects Hong Kong rather badly. What we have to know is that the Government, in this downturn, is determined to create more jobs. Thirty odd thousand jobs will be created. And as I was saying that before the end of March actually altogether 8,000 jobs will be created, mostly in areas of greening, cleaning, social welfare services and in areas of expediting works, etc. So the rest of about 20,000 jobs, when they will be created, how they are going to be created, what is the timetable, the FS will be chairing a meeting of the Employment Task Force tomorrow and afterwards he will give you a very detailed breakdown. When are we going to come out of this recession? Well, let's watch carefully what happens to the United States of America. The sooner they come out, the better it will be for us.

(Please also refer to the Chinese portion.)

End/Wednesday, November 28, 2001

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