Public service, great honour: Frederick Ma says he gained huge job satisfaction during his six years in Government.

Secretary for Commerce & Economic Development Frederick Ma plans to step down from his position when this legislative session ends. If the Central Government approves his resignation, he will proceed on leave in mid July.

Speaking at a press conference this afternoon, Mr Ma said in March, he was diagnosed as having 'cavernous hemangioma' and 'venous angioma' - blood vessel tumours in the brain.

Although the illness is not brain cancer and will not pose immediate danger to his life, he was advised to keep fit and maintain his blood pressure at a normal level.

After thorough discussions with his family, he decided to spend more time taking care of his health and tendered his resignation to the Chief Executive on June 12.

He said he made his decision after careful consideration and believed the Chief Executive would announce his successor at an appropriate time.

Job satisfaction

He said serving the public is a great honour and he thanked former Chief Executive Tung Chee Hwa and present Chief Executive Donald Tsang for giving him the chance to make such a contribution.

He also thanked the Central Government, his Mainland counterparts, Hong Kong residents, reporters and civil servants for their support.

During the past six years in the Government, Mr Ma had handled many challenging issues such as the rail merger, the Link REIT's re-launch, and bonds issuance. He said he had learned much and gained huge satisfaction from the job.