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The following is the transcript (English portion) of a press stand-up by the Chief Secretary, Mr Donald Tsang after the reception celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the China News Services at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre this (September 2) afternoon:
Reporter: Mr Tsang, has the government decided to establishing high-level policy bodies. What will they be doing, and what will be the role of Exco and Bureau Secretaries?
Chief Secretary: The role of the Policy Committee would be to make sure that the policy initiative would be complementary to the work of other Bureaux. In other words, it would help to harmonise the individual policy with other policies of other Bureaux, making sure that there will be no contradiction between various policy pursuits of various Bureaux.
Also, we have to ensure that the proposal is consistent with the policy agenda of the Chief Executive and it also has to determine whether the timing for promulgation or introduction of policy initiatives will be acceptable to the Legislative Council and the public at large. I think this is very important, but it will not be duplicating the work of the Executive Council.
(Please also refer to Chinese portion)
End/Monday, September 2, 2002
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