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The end result was that there was plenty of room for the private sector to keep the economy growing; and tax rates stayed low, Mr Tsang said.
"But if we are broadly on the right lines at the macro level, that does not mean we can be complacent at the micro level," he said.
"That is why in my Budget Speech last year I placed great emphasis on the need for the Government to become positively as distinct from passively business friendly."
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According to Mr Tsang, over the last nine months, the Secretary for the Treasury had chaired a task force to turn these words into action.
He said: "The first phase of our Helping Business Programme was centred on seven pilot studies. All of these were completed, on schedule, by the end of November."
These included the provision of a "Hong Kong Background Information" service; putting public forms on the Internet; looking at ways to speed up land exchanges and lease modifications; looking at methods of payment and collection for the Government's own business transactions; and looking at the concept of a Business Licence Information Centre.
"This is only the beginning," Mr Tsang said. "The work to date has been ably carried out by the Efficiency Unit, as a key component of the 'Serving the Community' programme, and as a neutral extension of their work on making the Government machinery more efficient."
He said it was now time to focus in greater depth on the whole interface of the Government and the business community. To try as far as possible to see things from the business sector's perspective, a Business Advisory Group was recently set up.
The Group would be supported by a new unit whose head would report directly to the Financial Secretary. The Group had agreed to establish three working groups, one each to look at deregulation, cost of compliance, and the transfer of services out of the public sector to the business sector. Each working group would be chaired by a businessman.
"In this way, the central co-ordination of the Helping Business Programme will be strengthened," Mr Tsang added.
End