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Following is the transcript of remarks by the Chief Secretary for Administration and Chairman of the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority Board, Mr Henry Tang, at a media session after officiating at the Opening Ceremony of the West Kowloon Cultural District Stage 2 Public Engagement Exercise at Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre today (August 20):
Reporter: What are the major considerations for the government to choose the plans? What are your major considerations? Will the cost be one of the considerations? And concerning the sale of private, personal data to private companies, how can you comment on that issue concerning sale of private and personal data?
Chief Secretary for Administration: Let me answer the first question first. I am glad I get an English question finally. If you look around the world at major metropolitan, international cities, you would find that to become a truly world-class city, it is more than just commerce or finance and trading. A lot of major cities around the world are also cultural centres. This is an opportunity for Hong Kong, for us to become a major metropolitan city in the world, that is commercial, financial, as well as culturally vibrant. So this is our mission and our opportunity, to give us that opportunity, to make Hong Kong a truly international world-class city. In order to achieve that, we have to ensure that the West Kowloon Cultural District is holistic, is consuming, is welcoming, and it integrates cohesively with our surroundings, as well as vibrant for the art and cultural community. We also want it to become part of the community so that everyone, whether they spend money to buy a ticket, whether they go shopping, they go dining, or they do not wish to even spend a cent, and just walk around the open space and the park, it will be welcoming, and it will be easily reached. Therefore we want to create this kind of district. We have the team, and we have the determination and we have the financial capability of doing it. As far as the budget is concerned, of course we will consider that very, very carefully, and we have to strike the balance. And when the balance is struck, we will construct the art and cultural facilities, as well as some of the higher revenue-earning facilities, like retail, dining, entertainment, because we have to strike the balance. Striking a balance means balancing our budget. Many of the cultural facilities will need subvention in the beginning, or maybe many of them will need a continuous subvention. We, at the end, will want to be able to use the revenue from the retail, dining and entertainment to subvent some of those cultural facilities, so that we can maintain and enhance the arts and cultural community. As far as your second question is concerned regarding privacy, we recognise that there's a lot of concern in the community about protection of personal privacy. We share the community's aspiration, and that's why we have conducted a review of the Privacy Ordinance, to see which areas we can better meet the aspiration of the community to better protect personal data. We welcome the opportunity to discuss with the community, and to discuss with LegCo, on some of the possible areas that can be improved. We urge everyone to participate in that discussion as well. Thank you very much.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
Ends/Friday, August 20, 2010
Issued at HKT 19:44
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