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Follows is a transcript (English part) of the Chief Executive, Mr Tung Chee Hwa's press conference following the 11th APEC Annual Economic Leaders Meeting in Bangkok today (October 21):

Reporter: A lot of the APEC leaders were opposed to seeing human security issues introduced into the APEC declaration. I'm curious about what the environment was inside the talks, what your opinion is in having APEC focus on human security, and also what role can Hong Kong play. Perhaps can we take part in this counter-terrorism action group?

Chief Executive: Well firstly, I'm not sure you are right that there were objections to that because to all of us in APEC we are naturally concerned about the death and the unnecessary loss that's inflicted on innocent people as a result of terrorism. We all are united in the fight against terrorism. It's more than that. We all know that terrorism inflicts also economic damages beyond what you and I sometimes can even see. So it is part of APEC's responsibility in this regard. And as far as Hong Kong is concerned you know that we take an active part in a lot of areas of counter-terrorism activities. For instance in areas of money laundering to ensure that money does not get into the wrong hands, does not get into the hands of terrorists; in the area of what we call the Container Security Initiative, we were one of the foremost in that regard. We are the largest container port so obviously we have the knowledge there, we know how to go about it, we are working very closely with the US Customs in this regard. In all these areas we are working very hard together, and I know all the other APEC members are doing the same thing.

Reporter: You said earlier that you did not think now was the appropriate time to introduce a sales tax. Having said that, though, when would be an appropriate time? Is it somehow linked to when there will be a balanced Budget? That's my first question. The second question is that can you confirm that Hong Kong will actually host the next lot of Ministerial Meetings of the WTO, when that will be and anything else you might know about that?

Chief Executive: To answer the second question first. Yes, we will be holding a Ministerial Meeting in Hong Kong. It's good news for us.

And about the sales tax, I have said just now that we are now faced with a very serious deflationary situation and therefore it is the wrong time to introduce a sales tax, it is absolutely the wrong time, so we will not consider this at this time. In the longer term, looking at whether there is a necessity to broaden our tax base and so on, that will be under the exercise that we will need to do for the future. There is no timetable.

Reporter: Is it somehow linked to the Budget deficit and when that is going to be balanced?

Chief Executive: Well I think it's better if I let Henry Tang tell you all some of this tomorrow.

(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript)

End/Tuesday, October 21, 2003

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