41 -
Wednesday, October 17, 1973
And so, Honourable Members, it is on this cautiously bullish note
that I end this year's address. We have had our measure of problems, and not
unnaturally it is these that have tended to hold public attention. But
insofar as they have been economic Hong Kong has managed to hold its way
through them and maintain its expansion. And for the future the Financial
Secretary confidently predicts an annual growth rate of the Gross domestic
product in real terms of 7% a remarkable figure. Insofar as our
probleme
have been social or administrative I have explained what we have done or
intend to so, and have told you of such progress as has been made.
-
We all welcome the progressive relaxation of international tensions
in this area, the product of realistic statesmanship. We welcome in
particular the new relationship between the United Kingdom and China,
and the prospect of the Prime Minister's visit to Peking in January.
If all these different portents hold up I am tolerably confident
that the year ahead will be one of the prosperity and social progress to
which your Government is committed.