XN000022-1996-12-05 — Page 24

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Governor's closing remarks at summit

Following is the Governor, the Rt Hon Christopher Patten's closing remarks at the Summit on Transport Facilities at Central Government Offices this (Thursday) afternoon:

At the last summit I referred to the goodwill and constructive spirit that has always characterised our meetings. I am very pleased that this afternoon's meeting has followed in the same mould.

It is obviously fair to say that we are making good progress. The public transport system is becoming more accommodating and accessible to people who have a disability.

Further improvements are, as you have heard, either planned or are under way. This is good news and I am sure we very much welcome it. I am grateful for the new and sensible suggestions that have been made this afternoon. I can assure you that I and my colleagues, and I am sure the Chief Executive Designate in due course, will follow all these up.

We really cannot afford to slacken our efforts. We need to press on with the formula which has been instrumental to our success so far. This has been our willingness to move ahead, look for common ground and co-operate with each other to bring about the improvements we all want to see.

We know, of course, that not everything can be achieved overnight. Sometimes, financial, technical or operational considerations may mean that certain improvements are going to take a bit longer than others. There is a limit, for example, to how much we can do in the short term about the topography of Lantau. Though we were doing quite a lot about the topography of Lantau to the northern side. I am particularly grateful to the disabled groups represented here today for combining intelligent patience with their quite proper determination to get things done as rapidly as they can get done.

And I would also like to thank again our public transport operators who have risen to the challenges and have done so much to improve the facilities on their systems to assist those with a disability.

As I have said, with regard to the future, while I cannot speak for the future Chief Executive, I am quite certain that he will appreciate the benefits that flow from a thorough and open discussion of these issues between all the concerned parties, and I hope that he will wish to continue this process.