Press Release - February 16, 2001
The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) today (February 16) signed Memoranda of Understanding with Canada in the areas of the use of information technology in education, film and television cooperation, environmental collaboration and mutual legal assistance in criminal matters during Team Canada's visit to Hong Kong.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on the Promotion and Development of Internet Learning Programmes and Applications was signed between Secretary for Education and Manpower, Mrs Fanny Law and Canadian Minister for International Trade, Mr Pierre S. Pettigrew.

"Hong Kong and Canada have been working in collaboration to promote the use of IT in education over the past few years. We both share an important belief that our students have to possess the skills to harness the very formidable power of IT which will fundamentally change the way we live and do business in the new millennium," Mrs Law said.

The MOU covers an extensive range of collaborative activities between Hong Kong and Canada. In particular, the HKeducationCITY.net and SchoolNet will provide a common platform for sharing and promoting Internet learning programmes. This will enrich the pool of educational resources for teachers and students in both Hong Kong and Canada, broaden their perspectives and facilitate cultural exchanges.

"Canada was the first country to connect all public schools and libraries to the Internet in 1999, and the Government of Canada is committed to making Canada the world's most wired nation," Mr Pettigrew noted.

Secretary for Information Technology and Broadcasting, Mrs Carrie Yau, signed a new Memorandum of Understanding on Film and Television Co-production with Mr Pettigrew to enable Hong Kong and Canadian producers to pool resources to co-produce quality films and television programmes, and to benefit from government aid schemes that are available in their respective territories.

The MOU was first signed in June 1991. The new MOU signed today replaces the 1991 MOU to update some of the clauses and to build in more flexibility for an application to qualify as Hong Kong-Canada co-productions.

Since the signing of the MOU in 1991, two films and three animation series, with a total production budget of about HK$96 million (C$18.8 million), have been approved as co-productions. These included two applications which were submitted in 2000.

Meanwhile, the Secretary for the Environment and Food of the HKSAR, Mrs Lily Yam, and the Minister for International Trade of Canada, Mr Pierre S. Pettigrew, signed an agreement on the Work Plan 2001 under the Memorandum of Understanding on Environmental Collaboration.

"Since 1992, there have been fruitful collaborations benefiting environmental protection work in both Hong Kong and Canada.

The Work Plan 2001 addresses a number of priority areas in the field of environmental conservation and protection, including training on environmental emergency response, promoting environmental trade and technology, exchanging experience of environmental conservation and protection, sharing information on air quality management, exchanging experience of solid waste management, and promoting environmental education and public awareness.

Another agreement on mutual legal assistance (MLA) in criminal matters was signed between the Secretary for Security, Mrs Regina Ip and the Canadian Secretary of State for Asia Pacific, Mr Rey Pagtakhan.

The latest agreement is the ninth of its kind that the HKSAR has signed on international co-operation against crime.

The MLA Agreement contains all the essential features and safeguards for international agreements. They are:

• serving documents;
  
• taking evidence;
  
• executing requests for search and seizure;
  
• transferring persons to appear as witnesses; and
  
• tracing, restraining, forfeiting and confiscating proceeds and instrumentalities of criminal activities.