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The following is the transcript (English portion) of remarks made by the Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Donald Tsang, at a media session in Zhuhai after the fifth meeting of the Hong Kong/Guangdong Cooperation Joint Conference today (March 15):-
Reporter : Why is it necessary now to take this step to place immigration and customs checks under one roof ? What preparations have to be made for this move ?
Mr Tsang : First of all it is a very good measure. It will make our cross-boundary facilities more efficient. It certainly will allow a larger throughput in terms of goods and in terms of tourists and other passengers. We still have a lot of work to do. First of all there are the nitty-gritty legal problems we need to resolve. The principle has been resolved. Secondly, this might require amendment of legislation. We will therefore require the help and support of the Legislative Council at the end of the day. And there will be physical construction work also to ensure the traffic will flow on both sides. We in Hong Kong and the Mainland allow vehicles to travel on different sides of the road. So all these to us are technical issue, legal issue. The principle has been agreed and our destination is quite clear.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript)
End/Friday, March 15, 2002
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