16
The Media, Communications and Information Technology
North America
In 2013, the ETO in Washington, DC organised the visits of the Financial Secretary when he attended the Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group in October and of the Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Professor KC Chan, in April.
From June to August, the Washington ETO presented the annual 'Made in Hong Kong' Film Festival, co-sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution's Freer Gallery of Art.
In 2013, the New York ETO directorate visited over 20 East Coast cities to promote Hong Kong. The office also assisted in arranging the visits to New York by the Chief Executive Mr CY Leung (his first official visit there), the Financial Secretary, the Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development and the Secretary for Education, Mr Eddie Ng Hak-kim, and to Chicago by the Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury.
The New York ETO used its 30th anniversary celebrations to promote Hong Kong through special business and cultural events, including a 'Hong Kong Day' for legislators in Boston and Maine. The office's 2013 publicity programme to promote the creative industries, particularly films, included sponsoring a record 25 Hong Kong films at the New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF). Film directors and actors from Hong Kong attending the various promotional events included Jackie Chan (who received the Star Asia Lifetime Achievement Award from the NYAFF), Herman Yau Lai-to, Wong Kar-wai and Adam Wong Sau-ping.
The New York ETO and the Asian Cultural Council jointly launched a fellowship programme providing grants for three outstanding Hong Kong artists to visit the US in 2014. The office also organised the Third Hong Kong Cup Chinese Speech Contest among university students and sponsored the Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival in New York, Atlanta and Boston.
In June, the San Francisco ETO hosted various events for the visiting Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development. He addressed more than 200 business leaders and entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley on Hong Kong's growing prominence as an intellectual property trading and management centre and in Los Angeles he spoke to leaders in art and culture communities in Southern California about the development of Hong Kong's creative industry.
The San Francisco ETO organised or participated in events in over 20 cities across nine different states to promote the strengths of Hong Kong as the preferred gateway to China and Asia and as a wine trading hub. The office also organised or supported many arts and cultural events, including the international film festivals in San Francisco and Seattle, an international dragon boat festival, a film festival dedicated to Hong Kong movies and the debut exhibition by a Hong Kong contemporary artist, Lam Tung-pang, in San Francisco.
In 2013, the Toronto ETO organised a series of business seminars and events in Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia, Quebec and Manitoba to promote Hong Kong as Asia's world city and the gateway to China and Asia. A business networking event held in Ottawa in November highlighted Hong Kong's unique role in the development of trade relations between Canada and China.
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