Financial Secretary Donald Tsang Monday called for attention to the range of initiatives the government is taking to harness the forces of globalization by improving competitiveness in the financial services sector and providing better services to business and international investors.

The initiatives include the development of a multi-currency capital market and clearing system, starting with a U.S. dollar denominated market, which hopefully will be fully operational by the end of the year, Tsang said at a Hong Kong business community luncheon to speak to a gathering of 27 chambers.

"We are making greater efforts to expand the regional debt market, continuing with our reforms of the banking sector and introducing new securities and futures legislation to strengthen and enhance Hong Kong's regulatory regime," Tsang said. He said, "We are also revamping the government's trade, industry and investment structure to advance our initiatives for promoting innovation and technology, attracting external direct investment and improving services to industry and commerce by making them even more business-friendly."

While not forgetting the lessons of the Asian financial turmoil, Tsang said, "we are pursuing the twin goals of market reform and technological transformation."

As prosperity returns it is not a question of "business as usual", and the post-recession Hong Kong is a very different place from the world of 1996, he noted.

Even by the traditional standards of resilience and risk-taking of our business executives, the speed with which they are moving into the information age and forging new relations with the leading technology and internet multinationals is astonishing, Tsang said.

It is the private sector that leads the way, providing the engine of growth and the generation of new wealth, he said. Market forces will continue to drive the economy, he said, adding that central planning by the backdoor, or any other door for that matter, is not in the government's lexicon.

"We now realize that while the increased sophistication and globalization of Hong Kong have generated new wealth, they have also increased the volatility of our economy," Tsang said. "They have also brought into sharp focus the overwhelming priority that must be given to our ability to compete."

"The recession has forced us to search for new standards of productivity from the work force, and competition is the firmest assurance that a community will obtain the best value for the money it spends," he said.

The market's crucial role in promoting economic success has been demonstrated more dramatically over the past couple of years than ever before, Tsang stressed.

Allowing the economy to be led by market forces rather than directed by bureaucrats is not a recipe for conservatism, or an argument for leaving things as they are, he added.

"We are a government that passionately espouses maximum support and minimum intervention," Tsang said, adding that it's an extension of our role as a facilitator.

He said he was sure both the task force and the committee will look forward to receiving the considered views of Hong Kong's chambers of commerce, and other organizations on the way forward.