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Following is a speech by the Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology, Mr Henry Tang, at the morning session of the Civil Service Management Forum at the HKCEC today (August 29):

Good morning ladies and gentlemen and welcome to this civil service management forum - A world-class government for a world-class city.

This is the first opportunity in my new job to speak with such a large number, and such a wide cross-section, of civil servants. Since taking up my post almost two months ago I have been on a steep learning curve. And I can tell you that after spending all of my working life in the private sector, and even considering my time in ExCo and LegCo, it has been a completely different experience to work inside the government. But I have been supported by a great team of professional and dedicated civil servants who have impressed me with their knowledge, skills and common-sense approach and most of all, their devotion to work. I have learnt a lot, but I also hope that I have been able to bring some new ideas and thinking to the jobs at hand.

Today, you are about to take part in an exercise where the most important thing is your ideas, opinions and experience. Most of the questions you will discuss have no right or wrong answers; they are designed to get you thinking about the challenges facing Hong Kong and the impact they have on government.

You are taking part in the seventh of eight half-day forums held this week. By the end of today more than 14,000 civil servants will have participated in this exercise. And after today it is hoped that you will all have a deeper understanding of the forces of change that are constantly shaping Hong Kong's development and how these affect your work as civil servants.

As you know, Hong Kong has set its sights on becoming Asia's world city. In some respects we have already achieved that benchmark - we have world-class infrastructure, world-class communications and we play a meaningful role in international forums such as the World Trade Organisation, the World Customs Organisation and APEC. But in other areas, such as quality of life issues, we still have some way to go. I think the most important thing in this regard - whether we have or have not made the grade - is that we have to constantly strive to do even better than we are now.

The civil service has a crucial role to play - but it is a job you cannot do alone. It has to be a collective effort. By working in partnership with the private sector, with legislators, with NGOs and voluntary organisations, academics and with members of the public we can move forward with the unity of purpose needed to achieve our goals.

During your discussions today, you will touch upon a wide range of political, organisational and management issues. You will not be able to consider them in detail - that is not the purpose. The purpose is to raise awareness of the challenges that we are all facing and to consider how we can deal with them.

Let me share some of the questions that I have to think about in my own portfolio.

*Do our policies and practices cater equally as well for the local and international business communities? Are they what you would expect of a world city?

*Do the departments under my purview help or hinder businesses to provide the best value for money? Businesses boost competitiveness by providing better value for money by improving the speed, cost, efficiency, sophistication and quality of the services they provide. How can we ensure that the cogs of government mesh with the wheels of business?

*How can we be more innovative and pro-active? How can we tap the resources, experience and knowhow of our colleagues, customers and clients to provide value-added services that will help businesses compete in the global market?

These are complicated issues, but ones with sensible solutions if we pool the collective wisdom of our colleagues and clients. Every one of you here today has a role to play. All public servants, whether developing new services or rationalising old services, whether you are a senior manager or front-line staff, all of us must contribute to the goals we have set ourselves as a community.

The next few years are going to be extremely interesting in Hong Kong. China's entry to the WTO, increased competition from international corporations and economic restructuring, to mention a few, will all affect the work of government in some way or another, and have a significant impact on our community.

Today's discussions will help you to examine how we might address these challenges; and how innovative and practical ideas can help us achieve our goal to become a world city. So, I would like to wish you all the best for a lively, enjoyable and productive forum. I'm sure you will find it very interesting and rewarding.

Thank you.

End/Thursday, August 29, 2002

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