The following is the transcript of remarks (English portion) by the Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, Mrs Rita Lau, to the media after attending a radio programme this morning (April 4) :
Reporter: (about the creative and innovation technology industries)
Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development: The creative industries are very promising sectors which we believe Hong Kong has a lot of competitive advantages. We have a critical mass of talents who have been involved in the creative industries. We believe they provide a very important driving force for Hong Kong to capitalise on and to propel Hong Kong's further economic development. And so is our research capabilities (in innovation technology), I think we need to always apply innovation to not only industrial processes but also in terms of how we could better provide our services since Hong Kong is very much a service economy. The Government is taking all the necessary steps in terms of providing a very business-friendly environment, the formulation of appropriate policies and the injection of appropriate financial resources to help the development of work that is currently done by the R&D centres, Science Park and Cyberport in promoting our different areas of industries.
Reporter: (the aim of "Create Hong Kong" office)
Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development: Indeed we are proposing to establish a "Create Hong Kong" office which will consolidate the work currently done by various departments by pooling the resources together and providing a one-stop-shop platform for our creative industry stakeholders so that they will find it more convenient to contact us. And we could through that office provide a more tailor-made and dedicated service.
Reporter: (timetable)
Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development: We have already had the in principle support of the Legislative Council and our current plan is to submit the proposal to the Finance Committee of the Legislative Council in May. With their endorsement, our plan is to set up the office as soon as possible. My timetable will probably be towards the middle of the year.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
Saturday, April 4, 2009