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Following is the transcript of remarks made by the Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, Mr Gregory So, at a media session on the proposed establishment of the Innovation and Technology Bureau and the wage default of Asia Television Limited (ATV) after attending the meeting of the Economic Development Panel of the Legislative Council today (February 2):
Reporter: (About the change of agenda for the Finance Committee meeting)
Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development: I have just explained that the Fisheries (Fisheries Development Loan Fund) agenda was temporarily lifted due to technical amendments to the document submitted. That is why this is temporarily withdrawn with the intention of re-submitting it in the future. So tomorrow the agenda would be on the establishment of the Innovation and Technology Bureau. I would call upon all LegCo (Legislative Council) Ｍembers not to use filibuster to prevent the establishment of this bureau because this is really the request of the people in the (technology) sector as well as the business sector who really see the value of using technology to move up the value chain. This is a very important agenda. I would call upon all the LegCo Ｍembers to collaborate and co-operate and not use filibuster which is really unproductive.
Reporter: The ATV employees just came to the Labour Tribunal for wage claims and some were not able to settle the claims. How do you see this?
Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development: I see this as very unsatisfactory. I have said this many times before that ATV should look after the interests of the employees and therefore I call upon ATV yet again to pay promptly the salaries of the employees. After all, they have rendered the service and they expect and are entitled to receive the payment. I think this is not satisfactory and I hope that they would resolve this difficulty as soon as possible.
Reporter: How long would the Government keep waiting for ATV to resolve this whole matter before actually taking action?
Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development: My colleague, Mr Matthew Cheung (Secretary for Labour and Welfare), has already explained that the Government has been very proactive in the prosecution of this case. And you have seen that this case is now being handled by the court. So my colleagues have been working diligently to take prosecution action in this case.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
Ends/Monday, February 2, 2015
Issued at HKT 21:24
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