The Secretary for Security, Mr Tang Ping-keung, officiated at the Passing-out Parade at the Immigration Service Institute of Training and Development today (March 15) to review 209 officers on parade, including 103 Immigration Officers and 106 Immigration Assistants.
 
     In the parade, the Immigration Band played multiple pieces of Chinese military band music and Chinese folk music, while the Guard of Honour also demonstrated the Chinese-style footdrill. The Guard of Honour then smoothly joined the parade for a smart formation of the Chinese numerals "23", demonstrating the Immigration Department (ImmD)'s full support for the legislation on Article 23 of the Basic Law.
 
     In his speech, Mr Tang thanked the ImmD and all sectors of community for their support, and hoped that at this important juncture when Hong Kong embarks on a new journey from stability to prosperity, all parties would continue to make new contributions for the development and prosperity of Hong Kong and the country.
 
     He expected that graduates would fulfil the three roles as a member of the ImmD, and turn them into their goals and original aspirations for future work. First, he expected the graduates to become "defenders of the rule of law", who would always uphold the value of "integrity and impartiality", give full support to enforce the law and safeguard the rule of law, shoulder the vital mission of safeguarding Hong Kong. Second, he expected the graduates to become "quality service providers", who would continue to uphold the value of a "people-oriented approach and ongoing improvement", care with their hearts to serve the public with professional and quality service. Third, he expected the graduates to become "facilitators of Hong Kong's integration into our country and a connection to the world", facilitating the Government's drive to attract and retain talent, thus helping Hong Kong to fully capitalise on its distinctive advantages of enjoying the strong support of the motherland and being closely connected to the world under the "one country, two systems" principle, make better contributions to the high-quality development of the country and integrate into the national development.

     Mr Tang stated that graduates must adhere to the basic principles and core values of the civil service, shoulder the responsibility of safeguarding national sovereignty, security and development interests, steadfastly safeguard the constitutional order of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region set out under the Constitution and the Basic Law, so as to ensure the robustness of "one country, two systems".

Ends/Friday, March 15, 2024
Issued at HKT 20:00

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