XN000022-1995-10-11 — Page 29

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Annual expenditure on 'training schemes, part-time courses and distance learning has risen by 76 per cent in real terms. About 155,000 adults would benefit from some form of part-time education this year.

However, neither Government nor industry had funded scientific and technological research on a scale commensurate with Hong Kong's economic progress, he said.

The Government had started to remedy this deficiency over the past three years. This year, the University Grants Committee would allocate $272 million in research grants, a 133 per cent increase since 1992.

"Since 1993, we have provided $372 million for research projects in manufacturing technology," Mr Patten said.

A science park might be established and Hong Kong was already working in partnership with the new scientific generation in China.

"Last year, I announced the creation of the Applied Research Centre, whose special task would be to support projects which involved researchers from China as well as Hong Kong," he said.

"Already, $11 million has been allocated to fund two applied biotechnology projects which have been identified as offering exciting potential."

Mr Patten said red tape and over-regulation were the surest ways for Hong Kong to drive business elsewhere, especially in such a dynamic region.

This did not mean the territory should abandon its high standards, he said, adding that to retain the trust and respect of Hong Hong's trade and investment partners, these must meet the criteria which set international benchmarks.

"In my first Address to this Council, I pledged that the Government would do everything in its power to maintain a dynamic business environment, free from unnecessary government burdens and interference," Mr Patten said, "I believe we have fully lived up to that promise.

"We could not have achieved this without the support of this Council in the past. Unfortunately, however, there is a concern in some circles, particularly among businessmen, that the territory's first, wholly-elected legislature may somehow force Hong Kong to change course, that it will insist on radical economic experiments and imprudent programmes of public expenditure.