Hong Kong – HKSAR Government’s Permanent Secretaries and Heads of Departments formally start study programme (with photos)

     ​A delegation of Permanent Secretaries and Heads of Departments of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government for study and duty visit formally started their study programme at the National Academy of Governance (NAG) this morning (June 26). The Director of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council (HKMAO), Mr Xia Baolong, had a meeting with the delegation participants this afternoon.
      
     The Executive Vice President of the NAG in charge of daily operations, Mr Xie Chuntao, and Deputy Director of the HKMAO Mr Wang Linggui, attended and delivered speeches at the opening ceremony for the study programme, marking the resumption of the study programme for the most senior colleagues in the civil service of the HKSAR Government since 2018.
      
     The leader of the delegation, the Secretary for the Civil Service, Mrs Ingrid Yeung, said Hong Kong is now in a new phase of advancing from stability to prosperity. The civil service is the backbone of the HKSAR Government, while Permanent Secretaries and Heads of Departments are the core of the civil service of the HKSAR Government. It is most timely for them to come to the NAG to receive training at this critical period and she hoped that the participants will seize this learning opportunity.
      
     She added that the NAG’s training could reinforce the participants’ understanding of the country’s important policies and future development strategies, helping them formulate and implement future policies and initiatives and obtain a deeper understanding on how Hong Kong can better integrate into national development.
      
     After the ceremony, vice-dean of National Security College at National Defense University of the People’s Liberation Army, Major General Tang Yongsheng, and academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and chief designer of the space station system of the China Manned Space Program, Mr Yang Hong, gave lectures to the participants on national security and the national manned space programme respectively.
      
     Meanwhile, Deputy Director of the HKMAO Mr Wang Linggui, delivered a lecture on Chinese-style modernisation to the Permanent Secretaries and Heads of Departments of the HKSAR Government.
      
     The Secretary for the Civil Service yesterday led a delegation of more than 20 Permanent Secretaries and Heads of Departments of the HKSAR Government to Beijing and Zhejiang Province for a six-day study and duty visit. This arrangement was made after the full resumption of normal travel between Hong Kong and the Mainland and the full resumption to normalcy of society for Permanent Secretaries and Heads of Departments to study on the Mainland following the one in 2018. It also has the largest number of participants ever.
      
     The delegation will continue the study at the NAG tomorrow morning, and depart for Zhejiang Province for duty visit tomorrow afternoon.