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Governor's Lunar New Year message
Following is the text of the Lunar New Year address delivered by the Governor, the Rt Hon Christopher Patten, this (Thursday) evening:
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Another New Year. A very special one this, for every family in Hong Kong and for Hong Kong as a whole. We know the reason for that this is the last new year before the transfer of sovereignty this summer. So, it's a poignant and exciting time for everybody. Particularly poignant for me and my wife and our youngest daughter, because we'll be leaving Hong Kong, which has been our home for five years, at the end of June.
Unfortunately we haven't had our two elder girls, Kate and Laura, with us while I've been Governor. They've come on holidays. They've seen what a very special place Hong Kong is. But like so many of you, I've had children away from Hong Kong finishing their education, and starting their careers, and I'd be telling you a terrible untruth if I didn't admit that we've missed them a great deal from time to time.
But our youngest daughter, like my wife and myself, has greatly enjoyed living in Hong Kong. She's had a wonderful education. She's made marvellous friends, and I think it's going to be particularly difficult for her when she leaves the place which she regards as home.
When we leave we'll be looking back on many friendships made, and I hope that the friends we've made will be friends for life. I'd certainly like to think that, at a New Year.
I suppose when we look back in Hong Kong over the last months, we see once again a story of extraordinary success.
The Hong Kong economy is one of the best best performing in the world. We're the freest economy in the world, according to American think-tanks. We've been very happy to see our growth rate staying pretty high, and we've seen inflation come down.
We've seen unemployment figures fall. Any unemployment is too much, but at least we're creating more jobs again. And we've seen our reserves - the amount of money that we've got as a community in the bank - we've seen our reserves increasing even more over the last months.