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Mr Rifkind: Thank you very much indeed. May I say that I only intend to speak briefly so we can allow maximum time for the questions that you would like to put to me. It is very privileged to have this opportunity to meet the members of LegCo and I understand that this is the first time such a meeting has been held in quite this open format and I hope we can have a very good and very viable exchange of views.

Can I just say briefly, two or three points, if I may. The first point is that I see my responsibility and the responsibility of Her Majesty's Government working for the successful transition that will take place next year as amongst our most important priorities as the British Government. The future of Hong Kong is something of crucial importance and it's something which will quite properly, not only take up your time in a very obvious way, but also be a very important obligation for the British Government in future, as it has been in the past.

May I secondly say that when I talk about a successful transition, I do not mean a transition whose success will be able to be measured on the 30th of June of next year. The real test of course is what happens thereafter and it is part of our common objective to ensure that anything we say, we do, we seek to achieve at this time and over the next 18 months will contribute towards the continuation of Hong Kong's prosperity and its way of life and the rule of law, for many generations to come. The United Kingdom's commitment to the well-being of Hong Kong stems primarily from our obligation on ethical grounds, on moral grounds, to do what we can to assist Hong Kong at the present time, but there is also a strong economic interest as well, because the suggestion that one sometimes hears that the United Kingdom has no likely interests in Hong Kong after next year could not be further from the truth. Only this morning I presided at a ceremony concerned with the new Consulate General. It is going to be the largest Consulate General that we have anywhere in the world, larger than many embassies that we have in many countries and its size has not been determined on symbolic grounds, but because of the breadth of common interest that we will be sharing with the people of Hong Kong in the years to come. I shall be going to China tomorrow. People occasionally comment on our economic interests with China and it is true we have economic interests with China, but they are and they are likely to remain far less than our economic interests in Hong Kong. Let me explain what I mean by that. Our exports to China last year were some 800 million pounds. Our exports to Hong Kong were over 2.7 billion pounds. We have a lot of investment in China. We are Europe's largest investor in China with investments of some 4 billion pounds, but our investments in Hong Kong are some 70 billion pounds. So in terms of the relative importance, Hong Kong remains a major economic interest of the United Kingdom and its stability and its progress and the maintenance of its way of life is therefore not just a moral obligation, an ethical obligation that we recognise to do what we can to assist, but it also is an economic interest as well.