Compromise call: Chief Secretary for Administration Rafael Hui says if Hong Kong wants to move forward on constitutional development, compromise must be achieved on electoral arrangements for 2012.

Chief Secretary for Administration Rafael Hui says if Hong Kong is to seriously move forward on constitutional development, compromise must be achieved and agreement must be reached on electoral arrangements for 2012.

Speaking at the Trade Development Council Annual Dinner in London today, Mr Hui said all the principal players - the democratic camp, other factions in the Legislative Council, the business sector and the Government - must achieve a meaningful compromise on reform.

"As in most mature and educated communities, domestic politics, over time, tends to converge towards the centre," he said.

Development discussion

Discussions are taking place in the Commission on Strategic Development to work out a roadmap for universal suffrage, and a report will be published in the first half of next year.

The voting result in LegCo last December that vetoed the constitutional reform package was very regrettable since the electoral arrangements for 2007 and 2008 must now stay the same as before, Mr Hui said. There was one very important lesson to be learned from the result, he said.

"We cannot just blithely ignore the fact that Hong Kong's democratic development must be in accordance with the principle of gradual and orderly progress, according to Articles 45 and 68 of the Basic Law."

Economic recovery

On the economy, Mr Hui said Hong Kong is in the midst of a broad sustained recovery with GDP growing 7.3% last year and 6.6% in the first half of this year.

In terms of total capital raised by means of IPO this year, Hong Kong has surpassed New York and is now second only to London. It was achieved after the successful IPO of the Industrial & Commercial Bank of China when it was simultaneously listed on both the Hong Kong & Shanghai Stock Exchanges on October 27.

"And Hong Kong continues to be rated the world's freest economy by leading public policy institutes in the US and around the world. Further confirmation of our success is the fact that overseas companies keep moving our way," Mr Hui said.

There are now more than 3,800 overseas companies with regional operations in Hong Kong, which is a record high. As a consequence, there is an increasing demand for international school places from expatriates bringing their families to Hong Kong.

The number of non-local students enrolled in Hong Kong's primary and secondary schools rose by 6% to more than 26,000 in 2005-06, and there were expansion plans and proposals from a number of the 55 international schools in Hong Kong, he said.

Air quality

"As an international business centre with a steady growing expatriate population, Hong Kong is committed to improving our air quality," he said.

He also briefed the business and community leaders at the dinner on efforts the Government has been making locally and through regional co-operation with the Guangdong Provincial Government in reducing emissions and improving air quality.

During his stay in London, Mr Hui called on Chinese Ambassador Zha Peixin at the Chinese Embassy, and attended a roundtable meeting with members of the Hong Kong Association.