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Following is the full text of the speech (English only) by the Financial Secretary, Mr Antony Leung, at the 2001 Hong Kong Eco-Business Awards Presentation Ceremony today (January 21):

Ronnie (Wong), distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,

I am very pleased to join the 2001 Hong Kong Eco-Business Awards Presentation Ceremony today.

Organisations which have implemented environmental management measures are experiencing real economic benefits. With environmental-friendly office practices, staff can enjoy a cleaner and more comfortable working environment. They can become more energetic and creative, and their work can become more efficient and productive. Through the establishment of an Eco-Business image, organisations can enhance customer satisfaction and gain community acceptance. It may be even more effective than spending extra advertising dollars. Moreover, green management practices can accompany other operational change initiatives with a view to achieving realisable savings in production and overhead costs. All these are real economic benefits that will help strengthen the overall competitiveness of businesses.

Successful organisations in environmental management share a number of common attributes - green leadership, performance management and partner synergy. Like any other change management initiatives, successful implementation of green measures requires leadership and commitment from the top as well as the collaboration and devotion at every level within the organisation. Performance monitoring and benchmarking are essential in realising and evaluating results. When more industry players are adopting environmental management practices, peer pressure will be built up amongst business partners. This would in turn enable businesses in clusters to interact and achieve Eco-Business excellence together.

The 2001 Hong Kong Eco-Business Awards jointly organised by the Environmental Campaign Committee, the Hong Kong Chinese General Chamber of Commerce, the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce and the Hong Kong Productivity Council is a valuable opportunity to encourage further adoption of environmental management practices amongst our businesses. With proven successful track records of the past two years, I am most delighted to see that more organisations in Hong Kong have joined and competed for the Awards.

Starting this year, a new category of awards - the Green Construction Contractor Award - is introduced to commend construction contractors which have demonstrated creativity and excellence in environmental protection and incorporated green elements in the construction processes. This will help enhance the environmental awareness and expertise of our construction industry, which is particularly important in the light of the substantial amount of infrastructure construction projects in the coming years.

Concurrent with the Hong Kong Eco-Business Awards is the awards presentation for Wastewise Scheme, which aims to commend and recognise distinguished waste reduction efforts. Winning commercial and industrial organisations have put forward innovative and effective ways to promote waste minimisation, collection and recycling of recyclables, and purchase, manufacture and sale of recycled products.

I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the organisers and the co-organisers on making the 2001 Hong Kong Eco-Business Awards a great success; and the Award winners for their outstanding environmental performances. I sincerely hope that the Award winners will share their successful environmental management experiences with their business partners so that together we can further improve our environment.

Thank you.

End/Monday, January 21, 2002

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