TNAG-2596-FCO40-3784-Appointment-of-Chris-Patten-as-new-Governor-of-Hong-Kong--Ap-1992 — Page 42

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To govern is to choose and choice is invariably

difficult.

Good political leadership involves facing up to

hard decisions, taking them, setting out clearly what has to

be done when all the talking is over, and winning consent for

the course that has to be pursued.

That is why I wish, while preserving the authority and

dignity of my office, to make my Governorship as open and

accessible as possible. But the ultimate responsibility of

leadership rests with me, in what is and will remain an

executive-led government.

Secondly, our personal and collective ambitions and

prospects are inevitably linked to the success of the economy

in which we work. Hong Kong knows better than most cities

that it cannot rest on laurels won in the past. We have to

continuously

strive relentlessly to maintain and improve our competitive-

ness for tomorrow's world, certain only of one thing

-

that

our competitors will do the same. We cannot stand still.

must We will continue to build for that future. That is why the

new airport and all the infrastructure projects associated

with it are so important.

the Prime Ministers of Britain and China have both expressed

their personal commitment to this exciting work. It is a

great undertaking worthy of the great city it will serve.

I assume that is one reason why

When the airport and the new port, and the bridges, and

the railways, and the land reclamation, and the roads, and

the homes are completed we know that the whole project will

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