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Following is the transcript (English portion) of the media session by the Financial Secretary, Mr Henry Tang, on the latest unemployment rate at the ground floor lobby of Central Government Offices (West Wing) this afternoon (December 16):

Question: The employment rate has remained unchanged again. Is there more the Government can do to create more jobs? And also can you respond to the Link REIT incident?

Financial Secretary: As far as the unemployment rate is concerned, the Government firmly believes in the principle of "market leads, Government facilitates". It is a principle that has served us very well. Since August of last year, we have created over 120,000 jobs already. It is not a small number. We will continue to adhere to this principle of "market leads, Government facilitates" to create more jobs. We will be working very closely with all sectors of the community.

As far as the Link REIT is concerned, I have three points to make. The first is that the Link was conceived more than 18 months ago. In the past 18 months, there have been plenty of opportunities for all sectors of the community to contribute and to give their views on the Link REIT. The REIT will contribute to Hong Kong as an international financial centre and it will be in the longer-term benefit of the Housing Authority. I believe it is not appropriate that certain parties raise these judicial issues in the last minute because it casts a shadow on the IPO although the IPO is still on schedule.

The fund raised in the REIT is crucial to the long-term financial health of the Housing Authority. So if for any reason this IPO were to fail, it would cast a very heavy burden on the long-term financial health of the Housing Authority on which three million people depend their housing needs.

(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)

Ends/Thursday, December 16, 2004

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