TNAG-2733-FCO40-3939-Future-of-Hong-Kong-constitutional-development-1993 — Page 50

77

18

Directors

will also work to increase the

in the department are proficient in Chinese.

we

percentage of suitably

qualified officers in the other

department.

directorate ranks of the

132.

I hope what I have said will be seen as evidence of

the Government's continuing commitment to localisation. The

dominance of local people in the management of programmes

and services is in my view essential. Nevertheless, we must

not forget that Hong Kong is an international city in which

overseas officers continue to have an important place, a

fact recognised by the Joint Declaration and the Basic Law.

Those who cannot continue to be accommodated must be treated

fairly.

COMMON CONDITIONS OF SERVICE

133.

The existance of two sets of conditions for civil

servants, one 'local', the other "overseas" has helped fuel

the localisation debate. We have narrowed the differences

and indeed removed them entirely at the most senior ranks.

We need to do more. The historical justification for the

present system has worn vary thin in the last decade of the

twentieth century.

***** WINN