The Civil Service Bureau today (July 21) held the fourth session on "Spirit of the President's Important Speech" at the Central Government Offices. The Chief Executive, Mr John Lee, attended as keynote speaker. The session was conducted to enable the participants to obtain a deeper understanding of the spirit of the important speech delivered by President Xi Jinping at the meeting celebrating the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to the motherland and the inaugural ceremony of the sixth-term Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR).
      
     Over the past two weeks, the Chief Executive has addressed a series of four sessions as keynote speaker in person. Over 1 200 participants took part in these sessions, including Secretaries of Departments, Deputy Secretaries of Departments, Directors of Bureaux and other Principal Officials, Executive Council members, Permanent Secretaries, Heads of Departments and directorate officers at various ranks. Apart from civil servants from bureaux and departments, the participants also included senior officers from organisations such as the Independent Commission Against Corruption, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority.
      
     Mr Lee said that President Xi's speech was an important milestone of high significance and serves as crucial guidance on governance by the HKSAR Government in the coming five years. It is incumbent on the top echelon and civil servants of the HKSAR Government to grasp in full the core essence of President Xi's important speech and build it into their own work. Mr Lee encouraged colleagues to perform their best with a pragmatic and can-do attitude; make concerted efforts to enhance governance capacity and efficacy; proactively integrate Hong Kong into the country's overall development and raise Hong Kong's competitiveness; adopt a result-oriented approach in their work; respond actively to aspirations from the people of Hong Kong; and respect and safeguard the country's fundamental systems on their own volition.
      
     The Secretary for the Civil Service, Mrs Ingrid Yeung, also shared her thoughts and feelings at the session. Some other participants shared their views at the session as well.
      
     About 420 participants, mainly comprising civil servants at the ranks of Directorate Pay Scale Points 1 and 2, attended the session today.
      
     Various bureaux and departments will also conduct sessions on the President's important speech for their staff so as to enable more colleagues from different ranks to grasp the core essence of President Xi's important speech, build the spirit of the speech into their own work, and see to its manifestation in the policy objectives and initiatives under their respective purview.

Ends/Thursday, July 21, 2022
Issued at HKT 18:24

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