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It is important to engage the public first-hand in the course of building an effective strategy for a sustainable Hong Kong, the Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Donald Tsang, said this morning (November 8).

The engagement process should aim to gather and organise the diverse views of our community into a shared vision for Hong Kong's development, Mr Tsang told a workshop organised by the Council for Sustainable Development.

The workshop was attended by more than 70 members of the council, its sub-committees, business organisations, environmental groups, civic societies, professional and tertiary institutes.

Mr Tsang, who is the chairman of the council, said he hoped that the participants, as opinion leaders and concerned citizens from various sectors, would "help us design a process for engaging the community in building a strategy for sustainable development".

He said the principles of sustainability required everybody to seek ways of living that would enable us to enjoy a healthy, prosperous and just society, where "people can balance the aims of creating wealth and pursuing personal development with a respect for the natural environment and pride in our cultural heritage".

"For sustainable development to work, its message needs to be understood and embraced by the whole community," he added.

The council's vice-chairman, Dr Edgar Cheng, noted that it was essential to have an engagement process that would allow the community to debate the priorities for Hong Kong's future in an informed and inclusive manner.

"The workshop will help the council move forward in preparing detailed information on priority areas for Hong Kong's long-term sustainable development," said Dr Cheng.

Today's workshop was organised with support from the government's Sustainable Development Unit (SDU). The participants gave their views on how best to engage the community in putting together a sustainable development strategy for Hong Kong.

The participants generally agreed that the engagement process could help to serve a number of purposes, such as broadening the dialogue between the government and the public, as well as improving ways of exchanging information.

The proposed process put forward by the Council for Sustainable Development was broadly accepted, and the participants noted that the issues to be taken forward should be well understood by the community, and should be achievable.

In the light of the conclusions reached at the workshop, the SDU will coordinate proposals regarding the formulation of a sustainable development strategy to present to the council at its meeting in December.

End/Saturday, November 8, 2003

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