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On the invitation of the Home Affairs Bureau, a Mainland delegation led by leader of the State Forestry Administration, Mr Zhao Xuemin, will arrive at Hong Kong to attend the giant panda handover ceremony.
A team of technical experts of the delegation will first arrive at Hong Kong on Tuesday (April 24). The experts, together with the relevant departments of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government and the Ocean Park Corporation, will work on the final preparations for the arrival of the giant pandas.
Mr Zhao Xuemin will lead members of the delegation to attend the handover ceremony of the giant pandas on Thursday (April 26) to be held at the Hong Kong International Airport.
In addition, the Director of Wolong Nature Reserve Administration, Mr Zhang Hemin, who is a member of the delegation, has been invited to give a talk on Tuesday (April 24) on the conservation of giant pandas. Mr Zhang is also a member of the adjudication panel tasked to select a pair of names for the giant pandas amongst the 13,000 entries received in the Giant Panda Naming Activity.
The Wolong National Natural Reserve, with over 100 giant pandas, is one of the earliest comprehensive national natural reserves in China. Under the leadership of Mr Zhang, the reserve has worked actively in conservation, scientific research and community-building, with a view to providing effective protection for the wildlife resources, particularly the giant pandas.
In the talk, Mr Zhang will share his experience on panda conservation work. He will be joined by Ms Suzanne Gendron, the Foundation Director of Ocean Park Conservation Foundation, Hong Kong. The arrival of a new pair of giant pandas will boost Ocean Park’s panda research and conservation work.
The talk will be held at the Lecture Hall, Hong Kong Science Museum, 2 Science Museum Road, Tsim Sha Tsui East, Kowloon, from 10.30 am to noon. Members of the public are welcome to attend. Admission will be on a first-come, first-served basis.
Ends/Sunday, April 22, 2007
Issued at HKT 15:01
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