Civil servants trained on the Constitution

Hong Kong’s civil service chief on Monday said the government will strengthen training on the Constitution and national studies for civil servants as the city lines up with the country’s overall development.

Senior officials and more entry-level officers will receive the enhanced training, Secretary for the Civil Service Joshua Law Chikong said.

He told the Panel on Public Service of the Legislative Council that the move aims to strengthen civil servants’ knowledge on the relationship between the nation’s Constitution and the special administrative region’s Basic Law, and update them on the political, economic, social and cultural policies as well as developments of the country.

The government will gradually increase training in accordance with relevant resources. Priority will be given to civil servants who have more direct work contacts with the mainland, Law said.

It is estimated that more than 10,000 civil servants will attend relevant training programs this year, according to the document.

In the latest document the Civil Service Bureau submitted to the Legislative Council, the government noted national development strategies such as the Belt and Road Initiative and Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area development reflect a much closer interface between Hong Kong and the mainland.

As cross-boundary infrastructure projects such as the Hong Kong section of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link and the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge will soon start operating, there was a genuine operational need for civil servants to understand the systems and other aspects of the mainland for broader engagement and mutual understanding, the document said.

Apart from local training, the government will also organize local seminars on national studies and run cooperative training, exchange programs or thematic visits with universities and provincial governments on the mainland, according to the document.

Meanwhile, the Department of Justice was planning to provide training for their counsels on the differences between the common law system in Hong Kong and the civil law system on the mainland, according to the LegCo Secretariat.