Hong Kong is between nine months and a year behind in solving the millennium computer bug, according to the CIA.
In a rare interview, CIA official Sherry Burns warned that most foreign countries were nowhere near re-programming their computers in time for 2000.
The SAR, China and Japan were 'maybe nine months to a year behind in terms of where the work should be', she said. The CIA is surveying the international security risks of the bug.
The warning came as Secretary for Information Technology and Broadcasting Kwong Ki-chi announced that the Government would launch an awareness programme on the bug, also known as the Y2K problem.
In the strongest warning from the Hong Kong Government, Mr Kwong said the bug was 'extensive and potentially disastrous if not properly addressed as there are few, if any, areas of modern life that are not touched by information technology'.
It was also working with all organisations funded or regulated by the Government to ensure they were bug-free.