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Following is the transcript of the Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology (SCIT), Mr John Tsang, speaking to the media after attending a radio programme this afternoon (December 28):
Reporter: Mr Tsang, looking back at the WTO conference, there are disruption, protests, ...
SCIT: There has been some disruption to the normality, particularly for people living on the Hong Kong Island, particularly for people living in the Wan Chai area. We feel pretty bad about that. But overall, I think it has been more pluses than minuses for Hong Kong as a whole, particularly in the medium and longer term. If we were able to complete the (Doha Development Agenda) Round by the end of next year, we would gain quite a bit in terms of export of manufactured goods, export of services, which is our strong point, and we should be able to achieve that. We would have much stronger rules that would govern international trade and that benefits us tremendously. And so, put it all together, it has been quite beneficial to Hong Kong, not to mention the positive international image that we will able to achieve as a result of holding this conference.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript)
Ends/Wednesday, December 28, 2005
Issued at HKT 19:23
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