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Hong Kong must continue to provide a business-friendly environment, including an effective and well-managed public sector, if it was to maintain its competitive advantage over other cities in the region, the Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Rafael Hui, said today (April 3).
Speaking at the Public Sector Reform Conference 2006, Mr Hui said there were growing challenges from other cities, not only in the region, but also in other parts of the world.
"We must benchmark ourselves against the best achieved by other economies, particularly those in the Asia-Pacific region with whom we compete for investment dollars," Mr Hui said.
"In a service-based economy like ours, overseas investors can quickly and easily set up operations in Hong Kong. They can also move out with the same ease.
"Individuals and business do not see themselves as supplicants to the Government. They see themselves as having entitlements that public servants are expected to satisfy.
"People-based government is one of the Donald Tsang Administration's central themes and it is a theme based not only on rising expectations but also on the understanding that we have the opportunity to improve citizens' satisfaction with our services while improving our own efficiency," he said.
The Government, Mr Hui said, was taking steps to better understand the public expectation. Surveys and focus groups were conducted to gauge citizen satisfaction in key service areas.
A one-stop youth portal is being developed so Hong Kong's young people can conveniently access a full range of public services related to education, career development, health, sports, leisure, culture, social work and civic education.
Mr Hui told the Forum that most government departments made use of the private sector to perform tasks that were once done in-house entirely by civil servants. This helped implement the policy of "small government, big market" while fulfilling a promise to enhance people-based government.
A number of development projects - including water and sewage treatment, solid waste management facilities, recreational and cultural projects, and a new sports stadium - were being considered in which the public and private sectors could co-operate.
"We in Hong Kong are not lacking ideas or initiatives to fulfil our pledge to apply more people-based public sector reform programmes while maintaining our policy of small government. We have committed and talented people in the public sector and initiatives that address the issue of effective and sustainable reform.
"But we are always keen to learn new ways to cope with the conflicts inherent in providing and delivering better services on the back of reduced expenditure," Mr Hui said.
"Our challenge is to excel in performance management and people-based services, taking full advantage of the modern methods, expertise and technology at our disposal."
The Chief Secretary told delegates that government services must not only be efficient and effective in their own right, but must also contribute to the wider economy.
He said it was encouraging that Hong Kong's GDP grew 7.3% in 2005; that an operating surplus for 2005-06 was forecast three years ahead of schedule and that Hong Kong has been the world's freest economy for the past 10 years.
Ends/Monday, April 3, 2006
Issued at HKT 11:47
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