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Continual IT development important to knowledge-based economy
02 - 11 - 2001
The continual upgrading of information infrastructure and technological
skills are essential to Hong Kong's growth and development in
the new knowledge economy.
The Director of Information Technology Services, Mr Alan Wong
Chi-kong, said this today (November 1, San Francisco Time) in
a networking activity with leading information technology (IT)
companies in the Silicon Valley of the United States during
his three-day visit there.
Learning about the latest developments of the IT industry in
the Silicon Valley; establishing contacts with leading IT companies
to foster their business interest in Hong Kong; and sharing
with them their insights on current e-business best practices
are the main objectives of the visit.
Speaking at the networking activity, Mr Wong told his counterparts
that the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government
(HKSARG) fully recognised the importance of IT to Hong Kong's
future in the knowledge-based economy.
Mr Wong said, "We launched our first IT strategy, the 'Digital
21' IT Strategy, in November 1998 and have made substantial
progress in enhancing our information infrastructure since then."
"We have fully liberalised our telecommunications market which
leads to the development of a world class telecommunications
infrastructure with competitive services and prices.
"We have enacted the Electronic Transactions Ordinance and introduced
a legislative framework for e-commerce to flourish, and established
the local public key infrastructure needed for the conduct of
secure electronic transactions, based on a minimalist regulatory
approach."
He said that the HKSARG is committed to taking the lead in the
adoption of e-commerce and has set a good example for the private
sector to follow by launching our Electronic Service Delivery
scheme, or government on-line services.
"We are also good technology users," said Mr Wong. "We now have
one of the world's highest mobile penetration rates of over
80 per cent. Around 60 per cent of our households have personal
computers and nearly half of our population are already Internet
users."
At present, more than seven million e-payment cards, roughly
one for every resident in Hong Kong on average, are used for
public transport and other financial transactions.
To cope with technological changes and world e-commerce development,
the HKSARG launched a revised "Digital 21" IT Strategy in May
this year, which capitalises on Hong Kong's early success in
establishing a world-class environment for the information economy.
Mr Wong pointed out that the main aim of the revised strategy
was to promote further development of IT and e-commerce to improve
our economic and social prosperity and to further strengthen
Hong Kong's position as a leading digital city.
The key areas of the revised strategy include the flagship IT
project, the Cyberport, which will open in phases from early
2002 to end 2003, and the provision of e-option for 90 per cent
of public services which are amenable to the electronic mode
of delivery by end 2003.
Developing Hong Kong's workforce for the information economy,
strengthening the Hong Kong community for digital exploitation,
and leveraging Hong Kong's strengths in the exploitation of
enabling technologies are other key areas of the strategy.
During his three-day visit to the Silicon Valley which started
from October 31, Mr Wong also visited a number of major and
niche IT companies there. These cover a wide range of technologies
and applications in e-commerce security, mobile computing, broadband
video and enterprise networking.
- ENDS -
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