The Public Accounts Committee Report on Harbour Fest is being studied by the Government for follow-up action, Financial Secretary Henry Tang says.

He and other Economic Relaunch Working Group members noted the conclusions and recommendations of the committee, which tabled the report at the Legislative Council today.

"As I have said previously, it was under the exceptional circumstances in connection with the economic crisis brought on by SARS that the working group decided to support the Harbour Fest proposal of the American Chamber of Commerce," he said.

"The intention was to relaunch our economy and rebuild public confidence as quickly as possible."

The Chief Executive commissioned an Independent Panel of Inquiry to review Harbour Fest's planning and organisation, and its report was released on May 17.

The Chief Executive has accepted its findings and recommendations and agreed that all parties involved in the various phases of the project are responsible in their respective ways.

He has asked the Secretary for the Civil Service to consider whether any action needs to be taken in respect of any officer, and the Civil Service Bureau is following this up.

Complexity under-estimated

Mr Tang said: "With the benefit of hindsight, we realise both the working group and AmCham have under-estimated the complexity of organising the Harbour Fest event within such a tight timeframe and have over-estimated its benefits."

He said Harbour Fest was a good initiative, but it did not attain the results hoped.

"As chairman of the working group, I agree we all could have done better in many respects. For this, we express once again our deepest disappointment and regret. We will certainly learn from these experiences."

Mr Tang said the Government is following up on various outstanding tasks relating to Harbour Fest, including:

* further clarifying accounts with AmCham;

* settling the transfer and assignment of all intellectual property rights in relation to Harbour Fest from AmCham to the Government;

* exploring further opportunities to broadcast the Harbour Fest television special and maximising the use of video clips for promotion of Hong Kong; and,

* improving financial circulars to better delineate the controlling officers' responsibilities.

Awaiting ICAC inquiry

Secretary for the Civil Service Joseph Wong said his bureau will carefully examine the findings and take them fully into account.

"We await the conclusions of the ICAC's investigation into Harbour Fest that may relate to the conduct of public officers before making a final recommendation on what action needs to be taken in respect of any officer," he said.

"We will continue to expedite action on this case and aim to complete the whole process as soon as possible. In the meantime, it remains our policy not to comment on the particulars or likely outcome of any disciplinary case."

Mike Rowse: No plan to resign

InvestHK's Director-General of Investment Promotion Mike Rowse said he has no plan to resign over the Harbour Fest controversy.

He said he has explained the issue extensively with the committee, and felt disappointed over their conclusion. However, he said he will respect it.