******************************************

The government is committed to promoting the adoption of e-business standards to foster interoperability in the government and among businesses, the Director of Information Technology Services, Mr Alan Wong Chi-kong, said today (May 14).

Speaking at a forum on e-business interoperability and standardisation organised by the Information Technology Services Department and the University of Hong Kong's Centre for E-Commerce Infrastructure Development (CECID), Mr Wong said standardisation helped different organisations achieve interoperability and service integration by providing a common language to conduct business, transfer technology and manage quality.

"Under the Digital 21 Strategy, the government is committed to promoting service integration," Mr Wong said.

In 2002, the government published the first version of the Interoperability Framework that covered technical standards for system interfacing and data interchange and guidelines for developing business-oriented specifications. A revised version was published in November last year.

Government departments had been making good use of the Interoperability Framework in developing their IT systems, particularly in the adoption of extensible markup language (XML) for data interchange, Mr Wong said.

The government is an advocate of XML and leads by example by implementing systems using XML to exchange data internally and with the private sector.

An XML Co-ordination Group comprising representatives from the government and private sectors was established to develop XML schemas, set up the XML registry, provide guidelines and advise on best practices.

The government published the XML Schema Design and Management Guide last November and launched the XML repository (www.xml.gov.hk) to promote the development and re-use of XML schemas in January this year. The Interoperability Framework and the XML Schema Design and Management Guide were posted online for public reference (www.itsd.gov.hk/itsd/english/infra/eif.htm).

Standardised documents speed up the transit of goods. By adopting the Electronic Business XML (ebXML), businesses can exchange trading data at low cost using the Internet to connect to all parts of the world.

In Hong Kong, the CECID has made pioneering progress in developing and promoting the adoption of ebXML.

The Director of CECID, Dr David Cheung Wai-lok, said that in order for Hong Kong to position itself as a regional trade and logistics hub, the industry must utilise new technology fully to enhance its competitiveness.

"The ability of the industry to follow and contribute to the development of international standards for e-commerce is an indicator of the maturity of the industry in Hong Kong," he said.

"CECID actively participates as a member of various bodies including OASIS (Organisation for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards), W3C (World Wide Web Consortium),and RosettaNet(a consortium to create and implement open e-business process standards for the electronic and semiconductor industries)in the development of international standards. We are pleased to be able to play a role in such leading-edge research development," he added.

A number of experts in the field were invited to share their views at the forum. Among them include Mr Jon Bosak who chairs the OASIS's Universal Business Language Technical Committee; Mr John Borras, Director of Technology Policy, Office of the e-Envoy, Cabinet Office of the United Kingdom; and Dr David Brock, co-Founder and Director of Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Auto-ID Labs; Mr Hisanao Sugamata, Research Director of the Electronic Commerce Promotion Council of Japan.

More than 300 professionals from the government, private sector, industry associations, public utilities, IT services providers and academia participated in the event. They had a fruitful discussion on the use of e-business standards in Hong Kong and how Hong Kong should promote interoperability and standardisation.

Ends/Friday, May 14, 2004

NNNN