XN000022-1995-12-14 — Page 38

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Transcript of the Governor's press session

Following is a transcript of a roundup press session given by the Governor, the Rt Hon Christopher Patten, at the Villamor Air Base, Manila, on Tuesday (December 12):

I am very grateful to the President for his very kind invitation to the Philippines, and I am grateful to all those officials who have helped to make my visit so enjoyable and successful. I hope and believe that it will have confirmed the very strong commercial and trading relationship between Hong Kong and the Philippines, and will have also strengthened our partnership together in APEC.

I have enjoyed my meeting with political leaders and with business leaders, and I particularly enjoyed today my visit to Subic Bay. Subic Bay has, of course, already attracted the interest of a number of Hong Kong investors as well as investors from the rest of the world. Hong Kong, last year, invested overall US$290 million in the Philippines and at least some of that was in Subic Bay. Subic Bay is impressive, but I don't think any of us in Hong Kong have ever been worried about competition. I think we have always believed that other cities and communities developing and honing their competitive edge was something we could welcome and live with rather than resent and try to elbow out of the game. So it was an extremely interesting experience for me visiting Subic Bay, meeting a number of Hong Kong entrepreneurs who are working there, and seeing again Chairman Gordon's excellent work which I am sure will be beneficial to the whole Philippine economy.

I have also, of course, had the opportunity of discussing with Philippine officials the position of the Filipino community in Hong Kong, and given such reassurance as I am able to give about their position.

And, of course, I was able to discuss, yesterday, with the President, the position of Mr Au and Mr Wong, and one of my staff today, Mr Kim Salkeld went to see Mr. Au and Mr Wong and you'll know the results of that visit.

So, an action-packed 48 hours. A useful one, I think, for Hong Kong, given that the Philippines is one of our closest friends and partners.