ENG-1995 — Page 380

COMMUNICATIONS AND THE MEDIA

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addressed by senior government and business figures, including the British Foreign Secretary, Mr Malcolm Rifkind, and the Governor.

During the year, four regional workshops were also organised in Birmingham, Manchester, Cambridge and Maidenhead to provide practical assistance and advice to British companies thinking of setting up business in Hong Kong.

Brussels

The Chief Secretary visited Brussels, The Hague and Bonn in April. The week-long programme included meetings with the Belgian and Dutch Prime Ministers, cabinet ministers and officials, the top echelon of the European Commission, members of the European Parliament and prominent Belgian, Dutch and German businessmen.

In November, Mrs Chan visited three other European cities - Rome, Milan and Paris where she met cabinet ministers, officials and leading businessmen and industrialists. In Rome and Paris, she signed separate bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreements with both Italy and France. The visits generated a great deal of interest in Hong Kong, particularly in relation to a continuation of the existing systems, including the rule of law and the level playing field for business, after 1997.

Internet

--In May, the Hong Kong Government joined the traffic on the information superhighway by introducing an Information Centre on the Internet World Wide Web. Initially, the Web Server was based in the Hong Kong Office in San Francisco. The Home Page provides a comprehensive range of information on Hong Kong which is only a click away for about 40 million Internet users world-wide. The success of the Home Page piloted in San Francisco led to the establishment of a fully-fledged Hong Kong Government Home Page in November (URL address http://www.info.gov.hk) co-ordinated by the Overseas Public Relations Sub-division in Hong Kong. Incorporated in the new framework is information provided by individual government departments.

Code on Access to Information

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The authorities subscribe to the principle of an open and accountable government. This requires reasonable access to official information. The government introduced an administrative code on access to government information, starting with a pilot scheme in a cross-section of branches and departments in March. The code is being implemented throughout the government in phases.

The code sets out clearly the types of government information to which the public will have access, and the means by which a member of the public can access such information. It also lists categories of exemptions to ensure appropriate confidentiality of sensitive information held by the government, and information involving personal privacy and commercial sensitivity.

The public may complain to the Commissioner for Administrative Complaints about government departments which fail to respond to requests for information in accordance with the code. The code represents a major step in meeting public expectations of greater transparency from the government.