HK government committed to promoting e-commerce among SMEs

With SMEs making up 95% of local businesses, the HK govt is launching a series of publicity events to spread the e-commerce word to SMEs

HONG KONG, 9 Mar 2000 (Asia Pulse) - The government is committed to promoting e-commerce among local businesses, especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) which represent more than 95 per cent of all the companies in Hong Kong, the Director of Information Technology Services, Mr Lau Kam-hung, said.

"The government recognizes the importance of promoting the development of e-commerce in Hong Kong to retain its competitive edge in the Information Age of the 21st century," he said at the E-commerce Forum for SMEs organized by the Information Technology Services Department on Wednesday. "E-commerce is a major force driving Hong Kong's overall economic growth," he said.

To encourage local SMEs to embark on e-commerce, he said the government was launching a series of publicity events to enhance SMEs' knowledge of e-commerce. Lau said the government would continue to cooperate with other organizations like Hong Kong Productivity Council, Hong Kong Trade Development Council and chambers of commerce to hold seminars for SMEs, providing them with knowledge of e-commerce, reference cases on successful adoption of e-commerce and technical support services. He said the government had established a public certification authority (CA) through the Hongkong Post to provide a secure environment for the conduct of e-commerce in Hong Kong. The Electronic Transactions Ordinance which provides a clear and supportive framework for the conduct of e-commerce in Hong Kong was enacted by the Legislative Council on January 5.

"The government will lead by example in adopting e-commerce, and will demonstrate to members of the public the benefits brought by this new mode of trade," Lau said. "The government will launch the first phase of the Electronic Service Delivery (ESD) scheme this October, providing convenient, time-saving and secure services to the public through electronic means," he added.

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