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Following is the speech by the Under Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, Mr Gregory So, at the 11th anniversary and Customer Service Excellence Award Presentation Ceremony of the Hong Kong Association for Customer Service Excellence today (January 20):
Chairlady (Ms Quince Chong), ladies and gentlemen,
It gives me great pleasure to be here today to join you for the 11th anniversary celebration of the Hong Kong Association for Customer Service Excellence and the award presentations.
As you all know, Hong Kong is a service-oriented economy with over 90% of our GDP coming from our services sectors and nearly 90% of our workforce is engaged in services industry. It is therefore not an exaggeration to say that Hong Kong means service, Hong Kong is service.
The establishment of the Hong Kong Association for Customer Service Excellence in Year 2000 is aimed at fostering customer service excellence by organising promotional activities and studies. Today's event of Customer Service Excellence Awards is one of the most successful examples.
The theme for the 11th anniversary Celebration is "Excel Beyond Limits": a very well-said notion indeed in my view. The reason why people are impressed by the service quality and efficiency of Hong Kong is that although we already have an outstanding record of providing high quality services, we will never be complacent but try even harder to improve even the most minute details of our services.
On this front, let me share with you the story of Mr Law Tak, the winner of the 2010 International Kam Cha Competition - a milk tea brewing competition. Although Hong Kong people consume roughly one billion cups of Hong Kong-style milk tea every year, I guess few of us have any idea of how to produce a cup of tasty milk tea. Mr Law has been doing his job for almost three decades. When people asked how come his milk tea tastes better than others who all use similar ingredients and utensils, Mr Law said while the choice of tea leaves, milk, sugar, water temperature, time and blending method all affect the quality of the drink, most importantly, the maker must devote their heart to brewing the perfect cup. I believe this is the secret of Mr Law's success, as well as a true reflection of the spirits of all Customer Service Excellence Award winners today.
I wish to congratulate all winners today and express my gratitude to the Hong Kong Association for Customer Service Excellence for its unfailing support to the Government in promoting service excellence in Hong Kong. I should perhaps take this chance to give a special vote of thanks to Quince, who has worked closely with Hong Kong Government's London Economic and Trade Office to arrange thousands of students stranded at the Heathrow Airport to fly back to Hong Kong before Christmas and New Year.
Thank you very much.
Ends/Thursday, January 20, 2011
Issued at HKT 15:51
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