Speaking at the Annual Fellowship Dinner of the 40th Anniversary of the Hong Kong Management Association, Tung stressed that "people are Hong Kong's only natural resources and the most valuable asset."

Now, Hong Kong has a workforce of about 3.3 million people, of whom about 37 percent have an educational attainment of lower secondary or below, whereas only 27 percent of the workforce have post-secondary or above education, Tung said.

A recent manpower project study shows that for the period from now to 2005, Hong Kong will require more people with higher education, Tung said.

Hong Kong now is faced with two challenges: skill shortage on the one hand and the surplus of unskilled workers on the other, according to Tung.

In the short term, the government must seek to upgrade the skills of those workers who are being displaced as industries and companies migrate to the New Economy, Tung said.

Besides giving priority of employment to local people and increasing job opportunities at the lower level, Tung stressed the importance of providing training and learning opportunities for people with low education levels.

Tung said that he had announced in his Policy Address in October that the government has earmarked HK$400 million (US$51.28 million) for a wide variety of training programs in the next two years for both employed and unemployed workers with low education levels.

"We will also be providing the Employees Retraining Board with a stable source of funding through an annual recurrent subvention, to draw up and implement plans for long-term development," he said.

In addition, Tung said the government will roll out a comprehensive reform of the education system, building a more flexible education system which provides choices to meet the diverse learning needs of students so that everyone can develop his or her potential to the fullest extent.

(Xinhua 11/23/2000)