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Hong Kong needs to develop a workforce with global perspectives to maintain its competitiveness and cosmopolitan character, the Deputy Secretary of the Commerce, Industry and Technology of the Hong Kong Special Administration Region (HKSAR) Government, Mr Raymond Young, said today (March 5, Toronto time).

Speaking at the opening of a career video conference held simultaneously in Hong Kong, Toronto and Vancouver, Mr Young stressed that young people are Hong Kong's most valuable resources and that the expertise and knowledge of foreign-trained talents including those trained in Canada would give a new impetus to Hong Kong's economic revival.

Following the success of last year's pilot initiative for university students studying in the Greater Toronto area and southern Ontario, the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (Canada) (HKETO) and the Commerce, Industry and Technology Bureau (CITB) of the HKSAR Government, organized the second career video conference to cater not only for Hong Kong students in Toronto and Ontario but also for those in British Columbia.

The Director of HKETO, Mr Bassanio So, who hosted the video conference in Toronto, echoed Mr Young's view. He said: "Hong Kong is an international commercial and financial center and Asia's world city where an excellent pool of international and local talents with different expertise from all over the world has helped considerably in enhancing its vibrancy.

"We needs to maintain Hong Kong's unique advantages and it is hoped that by organizing such career video conferences, we will encourage and attract Canadian-trained Hong Kong students to return to pursue their career in Hong Kong and bring the benefit of their international perspectives to the Hong Kong business community."

The cross-continent career video conference, which aimed to explore career opportunities in Hong Kong for Hong Kong university students studying in Canada, had attracted some 300 Hong Kong students from universities in both the east and west coasts in Canada to take part.

At the video conference, students received useful information on the career opportunities available in specific sectors in Hong Kong from panel speakers who shared with them invaluable advice on the current situation in related job markets.

Four distinguished guest speakers from the private sectors participated as panelists. They were: Mr Johnson Kong, Partner of BDO McCabe Lo & Co; Mr. George Leung, Chief Economist, Hong Kong Bank Corporation; Mr Andy Wong, Assistant Product Manager, Projects, Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd and Mr Ricky Long, Human Resources Director, Asia Pacific, Sybase Inc.

The video conference in Vancouver was hosted by HKETO's Principal Consultant (Vancouver), Mrs Catherine Yuen. The Deputy Secretary of the Commerce, Industry and Technology, Mr Raymond Young, hosted the video conference in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong students who participated in the video conference came from the following universities: University of Toronto, University of Waterloo, University of Western Ontario, York University, Ryerson University, Queen's University, McMaster University and Simon Fraser University, University of British Columbia and University of Victoria in Vancouver.

The video conference was 'live' webcasted by Radio Television Hong Kong's (RTHK) (www.rthk.org.hk) "RTHK On Internet". In addition, Fairchild Radio in Toronto and Vancouver also taped the event for broadcast in the following week.

Ends/Saturday, March 6, 2004

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