- 1.
Government's response to the Sino-British agreement
Following is a statement issued by the Government in response to an agreement reached between the British and the Chinese foreign secretaries today (Tuesday) on a programme of contacts between Hong Kong senior civil servants and officials from China:
"We are pleased that an agreement has been reached to intensify the contacts between senior Hong Kong civil servants and Chinese officials. The Hong Kong Government will arrange a series of small get-together sessions in Hong Kong over the next few months.
"Each get-together will be led by a policy secretary and involve heads of departments under his or her policy umbrella.
"These get-togethers will enable Chinese officials to learn more about the views of the participants and indeed those of colleagues they represent, both on their work and perspective of the future, in a relaxed and informal environment.
"It will also enable Hong Kong officials to get to know the senior Chinese officials who will be participating. The Chinese side will thus get to know a wide cross section of professionals, disciplined services officers and administrative officers of all backgrounds.
"We believe this is a useful and positive development, building on the many official and unofficial contacts with our Chinese counterparts.
"With the formation of the Preparatory Committee only a few months away and the appointment of the Chief Executive Designate not much later, we do need to have a better mechanism to get to know each other.
"And there is no better way to do this than in the place we live and work, informally and in a positive atmosphere."
End Tuesday, October 3, 1995