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"This new Council starts its work more than half way through that agenda of improvements in every area of Hong Kong life.
"A government should be judged on its record not on its rhetoric. Good intentions are not enough. It is our performance which counts. Although much remains to be done, I hope Members will agree, after hearing my report today, that we have made solid progress in keeping the promises of 1992."
Mr Patten said the 1992 programme was built on two bedrock principles so ingrained in Hong Kong's systems that they were usually taken as self-evident and universal truths.
The first was that Hong Kong people knew better than most communities that wealth must be created before it can be spent on improving public services.
The second bedrock principle concerned rights and freedoms under the law. Mr Patten said there was a consensus that civil institutions must develop in step with economic development.
This was why his 1992 programme included making governing institutions more open and accountable; ensuring that Hong Kong's laws complied with the Bill of Rights; guaranteeing that Hong Kong's freedoms and values were secured; and dealing as promptly and effectively as possible with the key issues of the transition to Chinese sovereignty in 1997.
Noting the international community's admiration of Hong Kong, Mr Patten said the Washington-based Heritage Foundation had concluded that Hong Kong was the freest economy in the world.
Last month, the World Economic Forum rated Hong Kong as the third-most- competitive economy in the world.
The Governor pinpointed some of the results of the past three years:
* GDP was up 18 per cent in real terms to US$23.800 per head.
* New investment had grown by 31 per cent in real terms.
* Total visible exports had risen by 43 per cent in real terms, and total exports
of services were up 31 per cent.
* Fiscal reserves had grown by 57 per cent, to total $151 billion.