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COMMUNICATIONS, THE MEDIA AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
World Economic Leaders which brought together the finance, foreign, trade and development ministers and the central bank governors of the 'Group of 20' countries. Mr Leung also hosted a Hong Kong Networking Dinner for about 150 guests comprising global business and political leaders, and media guests. During his visit, Mr Leung was the keynote speaker at a breakfast meeting hosted by the Hong Kong Association of New York.
Mr Leung visited New York City again in June, when he met officials of credit rating agencies as well as analysts, bankers and business leaders. He visited the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the New York Stock Exchange. Mr Leung also met members of think tanks, including the Council on Foreign Relations as well as editors of New York-based media organisations. He was the keynote speaker at a breakfast dialogue session at the Asia Society.
On July 1, the New York HKETO hosted a reception to celebrate the HKSAR's 5th Anniversary. Some 400 guests, including China's Consul General in New York, Mr Zhang Hongxi, and the Permanent Representative of China to the United Nations, Mr Wang Yingfan, attended the function.
During the year, the New York HKETO continued to publicise Brand Hong Kong at the various dragon boat festivals it sponsored in New York, Boston and Atlanta as well as at a corporate sail event hosted by Invest Hong Kong in Boston. The Director- General of Investment Promotion, Mr Mike Rowse, visited New York and Boston in March, meeting executives of various corporations and the media. He attended a reception at the Forbes headquarters, in advance of the Forbes Global CEO Conference held in Hong Kong in September.
The HKSAR's 5th Anniversary was the theme of the promotional activities organised during the year by the San Francisco HKETO. Apart from the principal reception held in San Francisco on July 1, seminars, film festivals and receptions were organised in major west coast cities.
The Chief Executive, Mr Tung Chee Hwa, made a short stopover in San Francisco before attending the APEC meetings held in Mexico in October. Mr Tung took the opportunity to meet a number of the city's leading political and business figures.
The Financial Secretary visited San Francisco in September before going on to Washington and Toronto. He gave a keynote address at a business luncheon hosted by the San Francisco HKETO and co-sponsored by prominent local organisations. His programme included meetings with the Committee of 100, Pacific Council on International Policy, Asian-American bankers, the Mayor of San Francisco, Mr Willie Brown, a former US Secretary of State, Mr George Shultz, the President and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, Mr Robert Parry, and other key contacts in financial circles as well as in the media.
The Financial Secretary made his first official visit to Toronto in September as part of his five-day visit to the United States and Canada. Mr Leung met a wide range of key personalities and opinion formers at a business luncheon during which he gave a keynote speech. He also met senior executives of major Canadian banks, financial services companies, business leaders and academics and think tanks that have a special interest in economic, financial and political developments in Hong Kong. Mr Leung called on the Ontario Minister of Finance, Ms Janet Ecker, and met more than 150 Hong Kong students studying in universities in the Greater Toronto Area.