The Commissioner, Mr Tsang Yam-pui, and the Assistant to the Minister of Public Security, Mr Zhu Entao, made that announcement in a meet-the-media session following conclusion of bilateral talks on law enforcement matters.

Mr Tsang said that during the meetings in the past few days, both parties had acknowledged the effective operations of the crime investigation units of Hong Kong, Guangdong and Macao to combat cross-boundary crimes.

He said that the results in tackling cross-boundary crimes, especially the use of illegal firearms, drug trafficking and triad activities, were impressive.

On the work of anti-terrorism, Mr Tsang said, "We believe Hong Kong is still a safe place and should be rated a low-risk area, but concluded that no place on earth can be said to be absolutely safe and we must take appropriate measures to deal with that threat."

Also speaking at the function, Mr Zhu said that the meetings had achieved good results and that co-operation between the Mainland and Hong Kong was pragmatic and effective. He added that both parties had enhanced co-operation to combat cross-boundary crimes, noting that Operation Fire Lily and Operation Fire Phoenix had been highly successful.

Bilateral talks with Mainland counterparts were useful and successful