By the end of September, Hong Kong had more than 860 companies holding valid licenses to conduct security and related businesses, said Hong Kong Secretary for Security Ambrose Lee Thursday.

Lee made the remarks at the opening of the one-day 11th Asian Professional Security Association Conference with the theme of "Competing Wise - Steering Fusion of Security Management and Technology."

He said those companies provide security guarding services and armored transportation services and professional support in the installation and maintenance of security systems.

There are also more than 240,000 persons holding valid Security Personnel Permits, which will entitle them to be legally employed as security guards of various categories and as technical personnel in security devices and systems.

"Hong Kong is one of the few places in this region that has the legal framework and a formalized set-up in regulating and ensuring the standard of the security industry. We do believe that we have been going down the right path," he said.

Indeed, the government has seen it fit in recent years in "outsourcing" to the private sector some of the security services which were traditionally performed by civil servants. The aviation security service at the Hong Kong International Airport is a typical example, and private security companies are now looking after the general security and management of most of the government offices and premises.

He added that a globalized world means globalized problems and globalized solutions. Long gone were the days where individual practitioners of a profession would hold dear to their own secret tips and tools of the trade.

Lee said Hong Kong needs to share and work together in combating crimes and all kinds of international threats, in order to develop the most appropriate response to new problems.

Source: Xinhua