Speech by Mr. Alan Wong, Director of Information Technology Services at the Annual General Meeting of the Hong Kong Institute of Engineers Information Technology Division on
30 - 04 - 2002

Dr Keung, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good evening! I am honoured to be invited to your AGM and have the opportunity to talk to a group of professionals who have made great contributions in the IT development of Hong Kong. Tonight I would like to share with you our E-government vision, where your support is crucial in its realisation.

Developing E-government is one of the Key Result Areas under the government's Digital 21 Strategy to position Hong Kong as a leading e-business community and digital city in the globally connected world. The focus of E-government is not on technology, but on the people who use it.

Our E-government policy aims at transforming the government's internal operations and public service delivery via electronic means. Government services are to be provided in a customer-centric way, and in a one-stop-shop, joined-up government approach where people need not worry about which department does what. We are making good progress: with more than 120 services from some 40 departments and agencies available on-line through the Electronic Service Delivery (ESD) Scheme.

At present over 70% of government services amenable to the electronic mode of delivery are provided with an e-option, and we target to increase this to 90% by the end of next year.

On the business front, we are planning to develop an electronic marketplace to facilitate government purchases online and to help foster an IT savvy business environment, particularly for our SMEs.

To facilitate seamless integration between the trade and the government, we are also studying the feasibility of an E-Trade system for the trade to communicate with the government electronically in the import, export, trans-shipment of cargoes and other related businesses. To position Hong Kong more competitively in the logistics area, we have also embarked on the E-logistics initiative.

Successful development of E-government depends on a supportive environment, which requires the concerted effort of the government, the industry and supporting organisations like the HKIE. We have a sound legal framework with the Electronic Transactions Ordinance in place to protect security and privacy in conducting electronic transactions. In this respect, I must thank the IT Division for being represented in the Advisory Committee on the Code of Practice for Recognised Certification Authorities that I chair.

Information security is an important element of E-government. We expect the industry to design and build products that are fundamentally secure, more responsive and proactive in dealing with security vulnerabilities. As professionals, managers and entrepreneurs in the engineering fields, you can certainly help in our efforts to enhance Hong Kong's e-business environment and infrastructure.

Within the government, we have developed comprehensive IT security policy and measures to safeguard information integrity and security across and within government systems. An Information Security Management Committee and an IT Security Working Group have been established to oversee information security and to help enforce the IT security policy within the Government.

On the technology side, we have built a solid, robust and flexible government information infrastructure. To facilitate "seamless" integration of government-to-government and government-to-business applications, we are setting up an interoperability framework that contains the technical specifications, infrastructural architectures, data schema, etc. for bureaux and departments to follow when developing joined-up E-government systems. The framework also provides the necessary reference for the private sector when building computer systems to interact with government systems. Early this year, we consulted the industry on the coverage of the areas where technical standards need to be specified and received a lot of very constructive input. We expect to promulgate the first version of the interoperability framework later this year.

For the community as a whole, skilled IT professionals are paramount resources in achieving our vision. In this connection, I am pleased to note that the HKIE has helped develop Hong Kong's strength in supplying well-trained, highly skilled professionals through its accreditation programmes in the engineering and computer science disciplines. In addition, the IT Division has assisted the Social Welfare Department in its IT strategy for the social welfare sector by nominating honorary IT advisers to the NGOs. This benefits the government and the community as a whole and nicely dovetails with the government's objectives in driving the E-government initiative and in raising IT awareness in Hong Kong.

We have built a strong foundation for E-government and have been making progress in realising it, but there are still many challenges to tackle in the road ahead. One of our key tasks is to instigate culture change among the civil service to embrace the paradigm shift in this Information Age. To ensure management teams in the government appreciate the use of IT and carry out fundamental e-business transformation, my department is assisting them in the establishment of IT Management Units to step up the pace of infusing IT and e-business best practices in their business planning and operations.

On the community front, you must be aware that e-business adoption in Hong Kong is still in its infancy. We will continue our efforts in promoting the adoption of e-business, particularly among the SMEs. It is encouraging to see that your Division also assumes the mission to promote the use of IT in local business sectors with a view to turning IT into a true productivity tool. This will undoubtedly help develop e-business in Hong Kong and enhance our competitiveness.

We will also leverage on the strengths of our infrastructure and develop an interoperable framework for the exploitation and adoption of enabling technologies, such as wireless technologies, open source and Internet2. In particular, the open source approach is expected to benefit e-commerce development in Hong Kong as the orderly release and sharing of source code among developers will help align development standards, make integration of applications easier, and cut short the development cycle. We are keeping an active interest in the development of the open-source movement and welcome the broadening of product choices in the market.

E-government will improve the way we interact with businesses and individuals, and acts as a stimulus to encourage the greater use of IT and adoption of e-business within the community. To reap the full benefits of E-government, participation and support from all strata of the society is essential. Again I would like to express my gratitude to the HKIE and the IT Division for your contribution in advancing the IT professional standards and your valuable professional advice given to the government as well as the tertiary institutions. All these help create a facilitating environment for IT to flourish in Hong Kong. I would like to take this opportunity to appeal to all of you here, with your ample knowledge and skills, to continue partnering with us in promoting IT development in Hong Kong.

Thank you.

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