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Members of the Council for Sustainable Development today (December 16) welcomed the positive response from community and other organisations to the launch of the $100 million Sustainable Development Fund.

At the meeting of the council, Chair of the Education and Publicity Sub-committee, Ms Christine Fang, advised members that 127 applications for a total of more than $138 million had been received in the first round of the funding scheme.

The council noted that a large number of these applications had come from non-government organisations in the social and environmental sectors, as well as from schools and other educational or academic institutions.

"Vetting of the applications has begun and we plan to begin notifying applicants of the results in March next year," said Ms Fang.

The council also discussed a report from the Chair of the Strategy Sub-committee, Dr Edgar Cheng, on progress with the formulation of a Sustainable Development Strategy for Hong Kong.

Members endorsed the proposal from Dr Cheng's sub-committee that the council should initially focus on three areas in testing the process for developing the strategy. These areas would be: Urban Planning Priorities, Solid Waste Management and Renewable Energy.

Dr Cheng said that the sub-committee would consider how best to set up support groups to help develop consultation documents and to engage the community in open dialogue on these issues.

"The support groups will be responsible for presenting issues to the public that will have a bearing on the sustainability of development in Hong Kong," said Dr Cheng. "We need to think carefully about their composition, to ensure that they are representative and knowledgeable in the subject areas concerned."

The council also welcomed the United Nations Asia-Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development for Cities on February 25 and 26, 2004. The council chairman, Chief Secretary for Administration Mr Donald Tsang, advised members that the HKSAR Government would play host to the forum, which was jointly convened by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs and the Government of the People's Republic of China.

"We look forward to this opportunity for major city leaders and stakeholders to share views on implementing sustainable development in cities," said Mr Tsang. "This event will help us to understand what we need to do in Hong Kong to ensure that we will remain as one of Asia-Pacific's leading cities for sustainable development."

Ends/Tuesday, December 16, 2003

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