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Following is the speech by the Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology, Mr Henry Tang, at the Hong Kong - Canada Trade Mission Conference this (November 8) morning (English only):

Minister Kilgour, Minister Norris, Mr Brotman, dear friends and colleagues,

It gives me great pleasure to welcome the Hong Kong Canada trade mission to Hong Kong. I understand that more than 50 delegates from over 40 companies in different business sectors in Canada have joined the mission. I am indeed encouraged by the excellent turnout.

Your presence tells me that you all recognise the business potential that Hong Kong possesses as a fast track to Mainland China at a time when the economy of the latter is poised to grow even faster following China's accession to the World Trade Organisation. In the next few days, you will see for yourselves the vibrancy of Hong Kong. You will meet and explore with your prospective Hong Kong partners how they and Hong Kong can best assist you to tap the opportunities offered by the growing Mainland market, whether in manufacturing, sourcing, servicing, wholesaling or retailing.

You will, I am sure, come to appreciate the wealth of knowledge and expertise accumulated by Hong Kong entrepreneurs through decades of doing business with Mainland China. You will, I am confident, agree that Hong Kong is exceptionally well placed to bring Mainland and Canadian businesses together. Our bridging role takes many forms, such as financing, supply chain managing, and provision of best-practice professional, management and other support services. Our bridging role is built on what we believe and practise in Hong Kong, namely the rule of law, free market, level playing field, low and simple taxation, and clean government. May be this is why over 3,100 overseas companies have chosen to set up regional headquarters or regional offices in Hong Kong. And their investment decisions have been borne out by the fact that the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development has recently named Hong Kong as the best-performing host economy for foreign direct investment in Asia.

Let me take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to the Canadian Government for its generous support to the trade mission. May I congratulate the organisers of the mission on this very good turnout. I wish you a very stimulating conference and fruitful networking activities in the next few days. I am sure that you are going to build up new relationships and make new friends which will, sooner or later, turn out to be close business partners.

Thank you.

End/Friday, November 8, 2002

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