ENG-2002 — Page 447

COMMUNICATIONS, THE MEDIA AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

satisfied with Hongkong Post's services. The survey also found that Hongkong Post has ranked second among the best service organisations for three years in a row.

Hongkong Post chose 'Care from the Heart' as the theme for developing its service culture in 1998. To sustain this customer service culture and a spirit of teamwork in Hongkong Post, a series of activities was conducted during the year to sustain the momentum of service improvement. It included promoting 'A Complaint is a Gift' culture across the organisation and providing proactive counter service at the front- line. Hongkong Post will continue to invest in staff training and development to maintain staff alertness and improve skills in providing quality service to customers. To promote electronic commerce in Hong Kong, Hongkong Post established the first public and legally recognised Certification Authority (CA) and launched the Hongkong Post e-Cert service on January 31, 2000, marking a milestone in the development of electronic commerce in Hong Kong. The Hongkong Post CA service provides a secure environment that addresses the basic concerns of authenticity, integrity, confidentiality and non-repudiation in doing business in cyber space. The Hongkong Post CA issues and manages digital certificates for individuals and businesses to facilitate secure electronic transactions conducted over an open network. With the use of digital certificates, subscribers can electronically prove their identity and digitally sign in the same way as in the paper-based world under the legal framework of the Electronic Transactions Ordinance.

Hongkong Post, representing Hong Kong, China, is one of the seven founding members of the Asia PKI Forum (APKIF) formed in June 2001. The other members. of the APKIF are China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, Chinese Taipei and Malaysia while Macau and India are associate and affiliate members, respectively. To foster regional and international cooperation in Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) related matters such as cross-certification, application development, and interoperability arrangements, a Hong Kong PKI Forum (HKPKIF) comprising 29 organisations from both the government and commercial sectors was established in October. The HKPKI will represent Hong Kong at international forums including the APKIF. The Postmaster General was elected chairman of the Forum.

As part of a drive to boost e-business and E-government, a new multi-use smart ID card will come with an option of a one-year's free digital certificate when it is introduced in Hong Kong from mid-2003. This will provide Hongkong Post a unique opportunity to offer to every ID card holder in Hong Kong the free use of digital certificates in secure electronic transactions.

The international courier service, Speedpost, maintained its role in serving both the business community and individuals. The delivery network covered 92 destinations including major trading partners such as the Mainland, Japan, the United States, Taiwan and Australia. The establishment of 'time certain' service to destinations closely linked with Hong Kong trade has been a priority in Speedpost's service upgrading. In addition to Macau, Singapore, Tokyo, Osaka, and Frankfurt, the network of this premium service was expanded to eight more cities, namely, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Fuzhou, Xiamen, Sydney, Melbourne and Seoul. Delivery to these designated cities by the pledged time the next working day after posting is guaranteed.

The Hongkong Post Logistics service, launched in 2000, caters for the growing market demand for a seamless, cost-effective and one-stop integrated logistics solution for businesses. This service provides a comprehensive range of supply chain

375