Hong Kong Financial Secretary Henry Tang said the government will continue to allocate resources for capital works projects, promote tourism, logistics, environmental and some other creative industries, in a bid to help create more job opportunities.

He made the remarks while presenting the 2005-2006 Government Budget to the Legislative Council.

Tang said promoting employment will help the unemployed to re-enter the labor market, gain self-confidence and ease the pressure on the social security system, thus fostering the development of a healthy and harmonious society.

He reiterated that the most effective way of tackling unemployment is by encouraging economic development.

He said the government has decided to extend about 11,600 temporary jobs in the public sector, involving a sum of more than 880 million HK dollars.

Tang said the government has initiated various retraining and skills-upgrading schemes and has been encouraging people to seek self-advancement and enhance their competitiveness through the Continuing Education Fund.

Apart from efforts for creating more job opportunities, the government will also endeavor to attract more talented people and professionals from overseas and the Chinese mainland, so as to upgrade Hong Kong's human resources and meet the needs of Hong Kong in its transition to a knowledge-based economy.

He said, under the Admission Scheme for Chinese Mainland Talent and Professionals which was introduced since July, 2003, Hong Kong have received nearly 7,000 applications, over 80 percent of which have been approved.

Tang said the applications cover a wide range of sectors including academic research and education, commerce and trade, financial services, culture and the arts, and information technology.