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Following is the transcript of a media session given by the Secretary for the Civil Service, Mr Joseph W P Wong, today (March 11) on the resignation of the Chief Executive after attending the Opening Ceremony of the Hong Kong Flower Show 2005:

Reporter: Have you found the resignation of the Chief Executive ...... affect the morale of civil servants?

Secretary: I respect Mr Tung's resignation. In fact, I have a very high regard for Mr Tung. I think he has really done his best for Hong Kong in a very selfless manner. In so far as the civil service is concerned, we have a very professional and very mature civil service system. Our civil servants adhere to the core values of allegiance to the Government of the day. Our civil service is politically neutral. Therefore any change in the top echelon of Government will not have any effect whatsoever on the day-to-day operation of the civil service. The civil service will continue to support faithfully the Government of the day and will continue to provide services of a very high standard to the community at large.

(Please also refer to the Chinese transcript).

Ends/Friday, March 11, 2005

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