HONG KONG, May 15 (Xinhuanet) -- A pilot sound portal has been launched in Hong Kong to help the aged and visually impaired obtain government information on-line.

    This was the message from Director of Information Technology Services Alan Wong at the Joint Web Care Award and Cyberport Website Design Competition Award Presentation Ceremony Saturday.

    He said all government websites comply with international standards on web accessibility to facilitate navigation by the visually impaired.

    Wong said bridging the digital divide is a major component of the Digital 21 Strategy, and the government has been working closely with the trade, academia and social service community in carrying out measures to bridge the divide.

    Employing the latest text-to-speech technology, the portal enables users to read out the content of four government websites in Cantonese, Putonghua or English. They are the Departments of Health, Social Welfare, and Information Services, plus the Leisureand Cultural Services Department's Space Museum.

    Wong highlighted the government's commitment to building Hong Kong as a digitally inclusive society and ensuring that all sectors of the community can benefit from the advancement of information and communications technology.

    The government will work closely with the educational and vocational training institutions, as well as the industry to enhance the training and skills of the workforce and the next generation, he added. Enditem