Talent swap: Secretary for the Civil Service Joseph Wong signs the exchange programme agreement with Zheng Zhemin of the Hangzhou Municipal Government.

Secretary for Civil Service Joseph Wong has signed an agreement for the exchange of civil servants between the Hong Kong and Hangzhou Municipal Governments.

Under the agreement, up to five middle to senior ranking civil servants from each side can be attached to the other government for three to six months each year until 2006.

Areas of exchange this year will include urban development, labour, health and education.

Signing the agreement in Hangzhou today, Mr Wong said the city is the third after Shanghai and Beijing to have staff exchange programmes with Hong Kong.

"The objectives of such exchanges are to widen the exposure of civil servants, to facilitate sharing of experience and expertise and to foster closer partnership and communication between Hong Kong and the Mainland municipal governments concerned," he said.

The programme was proposed by Mr Wong during a visit to the State Council's Hong Kong & Macau Affairs Office in April 2001.

The first staff exchange agreement was signed with the Shanghai Municipal Government in July 2002. Two rounds of staff exchanges took place between Hong Kong and Shanghai in 2002 and 2003 respectively.

In view of the success in the staff exchanges with Shanghai, the Civil Service Bureau, with the support of the affairs office, decided to extend the programme to other Mainland cities. An exchange agreement was signed with Beijing on December 29.

"We will consider other Mainland city partners in the staff exchange programme subject to mutual interest and benefits as well as the availability of suitable placement opportunities," Mr Wong said.