COMMUNICATIONS, THE MEDIA AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Other visitors to Washington included the Secretary for Trade and Industry, Mr Chau Tak Hay, the Secretary for Education and Manpower, Mr Wong, the Commissioner for Narcotics, Mrs Clarie Lo, Executive Council member Mrs Nellie Fong, the Chairman of the Securities and Futures Commission, Mr Andrew Sheng, and Mr Justice Mortimer.
The Toronto ETO held a reception celebrating the second anniversary of the establishment of the HKSAR in July. The theme of the reception was that Hong Kong had already bottomed out in the wake of the Asian financial crisis. Looking ahead, the Government was striving to develop Hong Kong into a regional IT hub with the Cyberport in the forefront.
Mrs Chan led a business delegation to Vancouver in June, the delegation including the Chairman of the HSBC, Mr David Eldon, the Chairman and Chief Executive of the Pacific Century Group, Mr Richard Li, and the Executive Director of the HKTDC, Mr Michael Sze. During the promotion, Mrs Chan, together with film stars. Leslie Cheung and Michelle Yeoh, officiated at the opening ceremony of the Hong Kong Film Week '99. Twelve shows of eight high quality Hong Kong productions attracted over 3 000 people. Mrs Chan also officiated at the Hong Kong Tourist Association's 'Dragon 2000 Millennium' to launch the tourism promotion campaign in Canada. The highlight was a gala dinner for 300 distinguished guests from the federal, provincial and city governments, academia and the business community.
In Vancouver, the Chief Secretary met the Secretary of State (Asia Pacific), Mr Raymond Chan, the then British Columbia Premier, Mr Glen Clark, Senators Vivienne Poy and Pat Carney, and the Chair of the Canada Hong Kong Parliamentary Friendship Group, Ms Sophia Leung. The visit also included meetings with the editorial board of the Vancouver Sun and think tanks such as the Fraser Institute and the Asia Pacific Foundation. In her keynote address at a business. luncheon, Mrs Chan reassured the business community that Hong Kong was committed to maintaining judicial independence, the rule of law and freedom of speech which had been underpinning Hong Kong's success as a free cosmopolitan economy. The event was co-organised by the Vancouver Board of Trade, the Hong Kong Canada Business Association (Vancouver), the HKTDC and the Toronto ETO
In July, the Information Co-ordinator, Mr Stephen Lam, met the press and spoke on 'One Country, Two Systems Two Years After Reunification' in major cities in Canada including Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver. His speech had deepened the press and the business community's understanding of the rationale behind the HKSAR Government's decision to seek interpretation of the Basic Law on the right of abode issue from the National People's Congress Standing Committee. He also met the Assistant Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Mr Don Campbell, to brief him on the situation in Hong Kong two years after reunification with the Mainland.
In November, the Secretary for Information Technology and Broadcasting, Mr Kwong, led an IT delegation to attend Softworld '99 — the largest software trade show in Canada organised by the Industry Department of Canada. During his visit, Mr Kwong held meetings with the Secretary of State (Science, Research and Development), Mr Gilbert Normand, and the Deputy Minister of Industry, Mr Kevin Lynch.
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