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WEDNESDAY, MAY 4, 1988
HE GAVE AN ASSURANCE THAT IN ASSEMBLING THE DATA, IT WOULD BE OVERALL TRENDS ABOUT WHICH MORE INFORMATION WAS NEEDED, AND STEPS WOULD BE TAKEN TO ENSURE THAT THERE WOULD BE NO ENCROACHMENT ON THE FREEDOM OF THE INDIVIDUAL.
ASSURANCE THAT THE TASK QUICKLY. HOWEVER, AS THE DEPARTMENTS AND BRANCHES
MR TSAO SAID HE COULD NOT GIVE AN WOULD BE EASY NOR THAT RESULTS WOULD COME ACCURACY OF INFORMATION IMPROVED, THE INVOLVED IN MANPOWER PLANNING WOULD BE BETTER ABLE TO FINE-TUNE THEIR ONGOING PROGRAMMES.
REITERATING THAT THE GOVERNMENT'S POLICY WOULD ALWAYS BE ΤΟ ALLOW RESIDENTS THE FREEDOM TO COME AND GO, HE SAID. IN THE ABSENCE OF PRECISE KNOWLEDGE OF THE SCALE OF THE PROBLEM, THE BEST ACTION THE GOVERNMENT COULD TAKE TO STEM EMIGRATION WAS TO MAINTAIN AND ENHANCE THE STANDARD OF LIVING AND QUALITY OF LIFE OF HONG KONG PEOPLE.
"IF PEOPLE SEE FOR THEMSELVES THAT HONG KONG IS STILL A GOOD PLACE TO LIVE AND WORK, THOSE CONTEMPLATING EMIGRATION MAY THINK AGAIN WHILE THOSE WHO HAVE ALREADY LEFT ΤΟ OBTAIN THEIR INSURANCE POLICY WILL WANT TO COME BACK," HE SAID.
ON THE NEED TO TRAIN UP QUALIFIED PERSONNEL ΤΟ REPLACE THOSE WHO WERE LEAVING, MR TSAO SAID THE GOVERNMENT WAS ALREADY DOING A GREAT DEAL IN THIS AREA AND PLANNED TO DO MORE.
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"THE OUTPUT FROM OUR EXISTING TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS INCREASING YEAR BY YEAR, AND WE ARE FIRMLY COMMITTED ΤΟ ESTABLISHMENT OF A THIRD UNIVERSITY AND TO THE CREATION OF AN LEARNING INSTITUTE.
IS
THE
OPEN
"THESE EFFORTS AND OUR VARIOUS CONTINUE, AND EXPAND," HE SAID.
TRAINING PROGRAMMES WILL
ON WHAT WAS KNOWN ABOUT THE PRESENT SITUATION, MR TSAO POINTED OUT THAT BETWEEN 1980-84, THE NET OUTWARD MOVEMENT OF HONG KONG RESIDENTS (EXCLUDING MOVEMENTS TO AND FROM CHINA) WAS APPROXIMATELY 20,000 PER ANNUM AND THAT TAKEN TOGETHER, THE FIGURES FOR THE LAST THREE YEARS WERE WITHIN HISTORICAL AVERAGES.
"IN 1985, IT WAS JUST OVER 11,000; IN 1986 ABOUT 13,500; AND LAST YEAR JUST UNDER 27,000," HE SAID.
NONETHELESS, THE GOVERNMENT WAS CONCERNED BECAUSE THE NUMBERS DID RISE LAST YEAR AND SEEMED LIKELY TO REMAIN AT HIGHER LEVELS AT LEAST FOR THE NEXT FEW YEARS BECAUSE SOME OVERSEAS COUNTRIES HAD OFFERED MORE ATTRACTIVE TERMS FOR IMMIGRANTS, INCLUDING THOSE FROM HONG KONG.
/ALSO, THERE
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