Hong Kong equestrian company yesterday announced its plan to employ volunteers for the Olympic equestrian events in 2008.

The Olympic Equestrian and Paralympic Events will be held in Hong Kong in August and September 2008 respectively.

The Equestrian Events (HK) of the Games of the XXIX Olympiad Company hopes to recruit 1,800 volunteers over three phases from now onwards, said Lam Woon-kwong, the chief executive officer, yesterday.

Complementing the work of full-time and part-time staff, the volunteers will help athletes, government officials and guests from overseas. Applicants will be interviewed and assessed on the basis of their knowledge of Hong Kong and their zeal. The selected candidates will undergo training, he added.

Speaking at the launch of the volunteer programme, Lam said this is the first time the Olympic and Paralympic Games would be held on Chinese soil.

"The recruitment drive will take place over three phases," he told a press conference. "In the first phase, we hope to recruit 90-1,000 core volunteers, who will serve as instructors for the new recruits in the second and third phases.

"Since the participants come from different countries, the volunteers need to be conversant in Chinese and English and speak Cantonese, Putonghua and English, while those who speak other foreign languages and have other skills such as computer knowledge are most welcome. From the previous experience we can say that French-, Spanish-, German-speaking visitors and athletes from the Scandinavia will also take part," Lam said.

Although the volunteers will be required to work for about 20 months from April 2007 until the end of the Paralympic Event in September 2008, Lam was not worried about a dearth of volunteers in Hong Kong.

"So far we have received a lot of enquiries from enthusiastic people. We do not worry about shortage of volunteers because there are a lot of European nationals in Hong Kong," he said. "Since the events take place in summer, many undergraduates including those who study foreign languages will be free to help and still there are also a lot of retired people. When I attended the Sydney Olympic Games, my concierge was a doctor," he said with a smile.

Deputy chief executive officer Miranda Chiu added that experts from the Beijing Organizing Committee and volunteer for the Sydney Olympic Games would be invited to train the volunteers in Hong Kong. To ensure an early start of the training programme, the phase one enrolment will get over on December 22 while the successful candidates will be notified at the end of January 2007. The volunteers, though unpaid, will be given insurance cover, uniforms, meals, certificates and souvenirs, he said.

Interested parties can phone 21079955 or visit website www.equestrian2008.org.