Chief Executive Edmund Ho said today (19 September) that the Public Administration Observatory was the main MSAR government consultative body for administrative reform.

Edmund Ho expected members of the Observatory to collect opinions in a scientific and objective way in order to help the MSAR government define public administration policy reform. He emphasised that precautions should be taken to ensure the normal operation of the government and society.

"The success of administrative modernisation will depend upon a clear orientation, as well as the determination of the civil servants and the population," he underlined.

Florinda Chan, president of this consultative body and the Secretary for Administration and Justice, added that the responsibilities of the Observatory included information gathering regarding administrative modernisation of other countries and regions, the presentation of reports, and the evaluation and analysis of subjects in this area.

Florinda Chan recalled that since the establishment of the MSAR, the government had been making efforts to provide quality services and to increase administrative efficiency so as to encourage social development. According to the secretary, some positive results had been realised in certain fields of administrative reform, such as training for civil servants, the performance pledge, ISO and improvement of the structures.

The general-secretary of the Observatory and director of the Public Administration and Civil Services Bureau, José/; Chu, said that the secretariat would concentrate all its efforts on promoting the interchange of information and would provide necessary technical assistance.

During the meeting, the members discussed the functions of the observatory and subjects regarding administrative reform. The members agreed that the duty of the Observatory was to promote public administrative reform, and decided to form work groups to proceed with concrete tasks.

The Observatory, a consultative body created recently by the Government to promote administrative reform, is comprised of experts and academics, local personalities, civil servants and representatives of the public services responsible for this matter.