"As education is our most important long-term investment, we are determined to continue to provide the necessary resources," said Tung Chee Hwa, chief executive of the Hong Kong SAR.

Delivering his fourth policy address Wednesday to the Legislative Council, Tung devoted great emphasis to the education, poverty and governance of Hong Kong in the year ahead.

"Education reform should be a matter of concern for society generally; the poor need our support; the implementation of various policies requires the monitoring, support and participation of the public," he said.

The chief executive said that total spending on education this financial year amounts to HK$54.4 billion, which represents a 4.25 percent of the local GDP and a jump of 43 percent compared with that before the return of Hong Kong to the motherland.

Tung said that the education system could no longer meet the challenges of the new age, and that the knowledge-based new economy needed a large pool of talent equipped with the right skills and creativity.

Hong Kong had to catch up with developed countries and some major cities in Asia, where up to 60 percent of senior secondary school graduates could pursue tertiary education, he said.

"Our objective is that within 10 years, 60 percent of our senior secondary school leavers will receive tertiary education," he noted.

Tung said that developments in Hong Kong in the past three years revealed profound changes in public awareness in two areas: the knowledge economy and the environment.

"The first change is that people can now better appreciate the importance of innovation and technology.

"Three years ago, there were very few people in Hong Kong who thought about the relationship between technology and economic development. Now it is widely recognized that innovation and technology are essential to enhance productivity for our sustained economic growth," he said.

Greater emphasis on the quality of Hong Kong's environment and the concept of sustainable development formed another major change in public awareness since he had declared his commitment to preventing and reducing environmental pollution, Tung said.

He said that a new Clean Hong Kong Campaign would be launched at the end of the year to help bring about an overall improvement to the city environment.

On the civil service, Tung said that enhanced productivity arising from the civil service reforms would result in total savings this year and in the previous year of HK$1.8 billion (US$230 million) in recurrent expenditure.

Savings of HK$2 billion (US$256 million) were expected in each of the next two years, he said.

In referring to the poverty alleviation, Tung said the SAR government plans to allocate over HK$2.7 billion (US$346 million) in the next two years to finance various measures to help the poor.

Housing policy was heading in the right direction, said Tung, adding that more flexible initiatives had been introduced into public housing, such as the sale of public rental flats and the introduction of the well-received Home Starter Loan Scheme.

Tung said the experience of the past three years demonstrated that the political system stipulated in the Basic Law could function effectively.

The principal officials of the SAR government at secretaries and directors of bureaux rank assume an important role in policy formulation and implementation which is different from that of other civil servants, he said.

"Therefore, we should examine how, under the leadership of the chief executive, the accountability of principal officials for their respective policy portfolios can be enhanced.

"In future, regardless of the system to be adopted in respect of the appointment of principal officials, we will maintain the stability of the civil service structure, preserve the principles of permanence and neutrality of the civil service, and maintain a highly efficient, professional and clean government," he noted.

The chief executive said that he would examine ways of strengthening communication between the executive authorities and the Legislative Council, to better ensure that policies formulated and bills submitted would have the support of the legislature.

The experience in the three years since reunification fully demonstrates that the executive authorities, legislature and judiciary of the SAR are able to function effectively under the Basic Law, and the rights of Hong Kong people have been fully protected, he noted.

"In seeking to improve our governance, the priorities are to enhance the accountability of the senior echelon of the executive authorities, to continue to establish an effective and constructive executive-legislature relationship and to encourage greater community participation in public affairs.

"We will continue to act according to the Basic Law and the actual situation in the Hong Kong SAR to make gradual and orderly progress in furthering Hong Kong's constitutional developments," Tung added.

(Xinhua 10/11/2000)