Regional sharing: Financial Secretary John Tsang takes part in the APEC discussion on structural reform.

Structural reform has become part of Hong Kong's continuous effort to enhance its competitiveness on the globalised platform, Financial Secretary John Tsang said today at the APEC Ministerial Meeting in Melbourne.

At the "Political challenges of structural reform" session, Mr Tsang cited Hong Kong's recent lifting of wine duty as an example. He says it is used to promote the city as a wine trading and distribution hub to create jobs, and the prospect appears encouraging.

Noting the serious impact of high food and oil prices in the APEC region, he said while this challenge is complex and many economies are facing unique circumstances, there are generic reform issues that the region as a whole can address.

"For example, price reforms that would gradually align domestic prices to reflect the scarcity value of the food and fuel items concerned should be encouraged. Second, fuel taxes and subsidies should be reviewed.

"Such reforms would provide the right market signals to encourage the proper supply and demand responses that are necessary to address the long-term challenges we all face," Mr Tsang said.

He added the wider use of IT and e-government is one of Hong Kong's key initiatives to enhance regulatory efficiency. Another is the use of reviews to examine why regulations are needed and how they should be applied.

At another session - "Dialogue with business on structural reform" - the efforts of Hong Kong's Business Facilitation Advisory Committee to improve the business environment were discussed extensively as a model for Government-business partnership.

Committee chairman Anthony Nightingale said Hong Kong needs to consider how to further cultivate within the civil service a customer service and business-facilitation culture.