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Following is the transcript of the Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology (SCIT), Mr John Tsang, speaking to the media after addressing the Foreign Correspondents' Club luncheon meeting today (November 11).
Reporter: You mentioned that Mr Lamy had said that the goal of Hong Kong must be recalibrated ......
SCIT: He did not say that.
Reporter: He said that it may be, may have to, now that it cannot achieve full modalities . Under this kind of revised parameter, what would be the parameter for success or failure for Hong Kong, given that we are not going to have another meeting at the end of the Hong Kong Ministerial?
SCIT: Hong Kong will continue to be a very important staging post in the run-up to the completion of the round, and that has always been our objective for the Hong Kong Ministerial. As to what will become the specific deliverables in Hong Kong, we would have to see the progress of the negotiation. It has been going on and we thought that we could be able to do this or do that at different stages. We will get a much better assessment in the next few weeks before we start our meeting in Hong Kong. But it has got to take some time, because this type of negotiation requires a wholesale approach, and nothing is agreed until everything is agreed. If you are negotiating on that basis, you would be holding everything back until the very last minute. So what we want to do in terms of preparing for the Ministerial in Hong Kong, is to try to capture what we have on the table right now on a conditional basis, and then bring that together when we come to Hong Kong and use that as a springboard to push us into the final stages.
Reporter: You mean that the goal for Hong Kong will remain fluid until the very last minute?
SCIT: It has always been fluid because the objective is the end of 2006 for the completion of the Round, and Hong Kong is a step, a staging post towards the completion of the round.
Reporter: Can I confirm that you are ...... the possibility of another ministerial meeting in Hong Kong.
SCIT: No, I did not. I have never said that.
Reporter: I know you are referring to that Brazilian Minister's suggestion, ruling out completely that there will be another ministerial meeting in Hong Kong.
SCIT: Not in Hong Kong. If he is interested to have a meeting in Rio, I will be interested.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript)
Ends/Friday, November 11, 2005
Issued at HKT 17:51
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