Secretary for the Civil Service Joseph Wong will visit Beijing next week to foster co-operation on civil-service training programmes with the Mainland's academic institutes and establish a staff-exchange programme between the Hong Kong Government and the Beijing Municipal Government.

Mr Wong will start his two-day visit programme on Monday by visiting the Hong Kong & Macau Affairs Office of the State Council. 

During visits to Tsinghua University, the National School of Administration, and Peking University, he will sign agreements to commission the institutes to organise national studies programmes for Hong Kong's senior civil servants.

Mr Wong will also sign a staff-exchange agreement with the Beijing Personnel Bureau to arrange senior and middle-ranking civil servants to be attached to the other government for three to six months starting from 2004.

He will also pay a visit to the China Foreign Affairs College.