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SPEECH TO BULLDOGS/BRITISH CHAMBER OF COMMERCE IN HONG KONG :
TUESDAY 25 SEPTEMBER
Delighted that my first major visit overseas as Minister for Trade
should be to Hong Kong. Like everyone else visiting the market,
one cannot help but be impressed by the vibrancy and sheer dynamism
which pervades all business and social life. Visits I have made in
the last few days have reinforced my impression of the hectic pace
at which business is conducted here.
Very glad to have the opportunity of addressing the British
Bulldogs and the British Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong today on
the theme of the "Future Development of UK/Hong Kong Trade Up to
and Beyond 1997".
Hong Kong's spectacular development and commercial success in the
post-war period, making it one of the world's top traders, has been
built on the basis of free trade, an open market economy and an
enterprising and adaptable workforce. Superb facilities, an
absence of trade and tariff barriers, and the need to import so
much in the way of raw materials and semi-manufactured goods, have
made Hong Kong an attractive, though highly competitive, market for
UK exporters. Hong Kong is very important to the UK not only as a
market in its own right, but also as a gateway into the Southern
the provinces of China, and as a major re-export centre for[markets of
the the Pacific Rim. It will continue to be so for the foreseeable
future.
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