XN000022-1996-05-27 — Page 4

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Chief Secretary to visit the United States

The Chief Secretary, Mrs Anson Chan, left Hong Kong today (Monday) for a three-week visit to seven cities in the United States.

Mrs Chan will first visit Seattle, San Francisco and Boston before launching Hong Kong-USA' 96 in New York, Dallas and Los Angeles.

While in Seattle, Mrs Chan will lunch with top businessmen, visit the Boeing 777 assembly plant and meet with the senior staff of Microsoft. On May 28, she will depart for San Francisco where she will meet with the Mayor, local businessmen and government officials and deliver a keynote address at the Stanford University.

Mrs Chan will leave for Boston on May 30. In Boston, she will meet with the Governor of Massachusetts and businessmen. She will also attend a reception hosted by the Tufts University. In addition, she will visit the Harvard University and speak to MIT on "Hong Kong in transition: What the future holds". On June 2, Mrs Chan will officiate at the Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival in Boston,

On June 3, Mrs Chan will depart for New York to begin the first leg of the Hong Kong-USA'96, a major overseas promotion jointly organised by the government, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) and the Hong Kong Tourist Association (HKTA).

Hong Kong-USA'96 is the fifth major overseas promotion organised by the Hong Kong Government, with Canada in 1992, Europe in 1993, USA in 1994 and Japan in 1995. The United States is chosen again this year because it is important to update our major trading partner's understanding of Hong Kong and strengthen our economic ties.

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The key feature of the promotion exercise include a business conference entitled "Hong Kong Strategic Business Partner for the Pacific Century" and workshops focusing on financial services, high-tech manufacturing and tourism in Hong Kong. Top businessmen and senior government officials from Hong Kong will be guest speakers at the conference. These include Dr Victor Fung, Chairman, HKTDC; Mr Michael Sze, Executive Director, HKTDC; Mr Peter Woo, Honorary Chairman, Wharf (Holdings) Ltd; Mr David Eldon, Chief Executive, Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Ltd; Mr Peter Sutch, Chairman, John Swire & Sons (HK) Ltd; Mr Lo Yuk Sui, Chairman, HKTA. They will be joined by Mr Barrie Wiggham, Hong Kong Commissioner for Economic and Trade Affairs (USA); Mr Gordon Siu, Secretary for Economic Services, Mr Rafael Hui, Secretary for Financial Services and Miss Denise Yue, Secretary for Trade and Industry, and other speakers.