XN000022-1996-12-28+29 — Page 2

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Chief Secretary's transcript

Following is the transcript of what the Chief Secretary, Mrs Anson Chan, said this (Saturday) morning during the photo call after meeting the Chief Executive (Designate), Mr Tung Chee-hwa:

Chief Secretary: I am delighted to have the opportunity this morning to have breakfast with Mr Tung, to have an opportunity to express to him my own views about the civil service, the need for maintaining the integrity, the political neutrality and the confidence of the civil service. Mr Tung also agrees that this is important as he has already made clear. At his request, I will, starting from next week, arrange for Mr Tung to meet with each and every policy secretary so that he can have a better understanding of the individuals. I very much hope that on the conclusion of these meetings with individual policy secretaries that Mr Tung will be able to make up his mind about his team. I personally feel that if it is possible for all the principal officials to straddle 1997 and to continue to serve the people of Hong Kong, this will do a great deal to instil confidence and maintain morale in the civil service. I am also extremely grateful to Mr Tung for requesting me to stay on, for his trust in me. I am of course delighted to accept. I know that I can work very, very happily with Mr Tung because we both share a common objective and that is how to maintain a smooth transition and confidence and prosperity in Hong Kong after 1997. We will also, starting from next week, second a number of government officials to assist Mr Tung to set up his private office. We have already secured accommodation in a centrally located building which I hope Mr Tung will be happy with, but clearly we will need to arrange for him to look at this accommodation. We will also be providing a driver and a car for Mr Tung's private use. Thank you very much.

End

Local workers urged to register for ACP jobs

Local construction workers interested in airport-related jobs are urged to register as soon as possible at any of the nine Labour Department's Local Employment Service offices and the Special Placement Team (SPT) for the Airport Core Programme as well as the Airport Core Programme Job Centre in Mong Kok.

A spokesman for the Labour Department said today (Saturday) that more than 2,900 airport-related job vacancies would need to be filled within the next three months under the Special Recruitment Campaign for the new airport and related projects.