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Follows is a transcript of remarks by the Chief Executive, Mr Tung Chee Hwa, at a press conference following the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) Economic Leaders Meeting in Brunei today (November 16):

Mr Tung : The meeting of the APEC Economic Leaders was just concluded. We had the Leaders Declaration. The following points particularly relate to Hong Kong.

All of us recognises the importance, and reached agreement, to urge the WTO to move ahead to agree to an agenda and to start another round of multi-lateral discussions in 2001. Over the last decades Hong Kong has benefited greatly from expanded trade and I'm glad that we are able to this time, through the APEC effort, to move the multi-lateral discussion on trade and services forward.

We also expressed our determination to continue the reform of the international financial architecture to prevent a recurrence of financial turmoils to ensure that developing countries can develop in a safe and stable financial environment.

We all recognise, and we are determined to make sure, all the economic entities will achieve prosperity through the use of technology. And we recognise that it is information technology particularly, and the use of the Internet, which will be critical in this respect. The Hong Kong government, as you all know, has a very specific agenda as how we move forward in the area of information technology and the use of the Internet and we will want to push ahead as fast as we can to ensure our economy continues to develop.

All of us expressed our concern about the volatility of oil prices. The stability of oil prices is very, very important to everybody and of course to us in Hong Kong. And from that point of view we will continue to monitor the movement of oil prices carefully over the next months. Thank you very much.

Q: (AP): One of the themes that has come up in this conference is using the benefits of globalisation and technology and all that for the benefit of everybody in the region. One of the indirect benefits that has often been mentioned here this week is democracy, participatory societies. When do you think these are going to come to Hong Kong and China?

Mr Tung : To answer the first part of your question, let me tell you that there is even some backlash about the benefits of globalisation. I think, I take the firm view, that globalisation is an inevitable way forward and it is good for the entire world at large. If you look back over the last 50 years the world has become increasingly interdependent. Interpedendence, increased global trade and services have actually created prosperity for all of us and it is important that we move forward in globalisation. But we also have to recognise there are aspects of globalisation which may be detrimental to certain economies and it is important we recognise these impacts. And as we move forward in globalisation we have to take all of these views into account.

I will tell you about Hong Kong's democratic development. Where do you come from?

(AP): America.

Mr Tung: You're from America. So, you know for 156 years we have been a colony. China resumed sovereignty over Hong Kong in 1997 and under the Basic Law, we have 10 years, the Basic Law has actually defined for us from 1997 to 2007 what kind of a political institutional arrangement we should have. And we are moving forward according to that plan in a very orderly and a very stable manner and in due course we will be reviewing as to how we move forward in the future.

Q: (SCMP): How much pressure was there during the retreat by the US to actually get a definite commitment to launching a new round in 2001 and how did the members go about persuading Malaysia and the other developing states that had serious concerns at the beginning of the week that this was in their interests?

Mr Tung : There was a lot of very good, solid, constructive discussions. Certainly, from my point of view, I did not feel any pressure from anybody. I think the discussions were very constructive. Mind you, all of us in APEC recognise that globalisation is here to stay, that globalisation is a good thing. But at the same time recognise there are shortcomings about globalisation which need to be addressed. We all recognise this. It was not difficult, we all benefit from the opening up of trade and investment. So it's not difficult to come to an agreement. The issue is really how to fix an agenda, when to fix an agenda, how do we move forward. So we were able to reach an agreement rather more easy. I think our senior officials actually did most of the work anyway.

Q: (Dow Jones) : I wonder if you can talk about the bilateral trade agreements that seem to be coming out of this meeting and basically Hong Kong's view about these agreements and whether you think they help support, or detract, from the APEC process and whether Hong Kong has been invited to join any.

Mr Tung : That's a very good question. Let me put it this way that we have always been a believer of multi-lateral trade negotiations and therefore we are very pleased that this time around APEC leaders came out with a very firm statement to get on with it to start a new round some time next year. Having said that, I think whether it is because of the failure in Seattle or is it because of the impatience of some of the members of APEC, 17 out of the 21 APEC members are involved in bilateral trade agreements or are involved in some form of negotiation, one form or another, for bilateral trade agreements. Is this a good thing or is this a bad thing? Well bilateral trade agreements can be a good building block, a good building block for multi-lateral discussions of the future if the bilateral trading agreements are of a very high standard. What do I mean by this? Obviously it must comply with all the WTO rules and regulations. It should really be WTO plus, plus. And secondly if it is open to others to join that agreement, so it is not an exclusive type of agreement. If a bilateral agreement is not properly structured then such agreement may become a stumbling block in the future for multi-lateral trade negotiations. So all the governments who are involved in bilateral agreements in APEC have all committed that while they are moving ahead with bilateral agreements they are committed to the multi-lateral round of discussions. So I would expect that if that is the case it would be a good thing as a whole that these bilateral discussions will stimulate more activities on the multi-lateral front. So on the whole we are pleased we see this happening and we ourselves are going to begin an exploratory round with New Zealand in the near future.

Chief Executive's transcript in Brunei (Chinese part)

End/Thursday, November 16, 2000

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