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Transcript of the Governor's media session

Following is the transcript of the media session by the Governor, the Rt Hon Christopher Patten, after visiting the Southern District this (Wednesday) afternoon:

Governor: I'd just like to say one thing about my visit today. You know that I've started off today by looking at some of the Caritas services for children newly arrived here from mainland China. We are obviously extremely keen to develop comprehensive services for those who come from mainland China, new immigrants to Hong Kong. We want to ensure that they know what their rights and entitlements are in Hong Kong, know what they can be expected to receive and we've produced what I think is an extremely good little booklet which we are distributing as widely as possible. I think the whole community appreciates that in areas like education, we want to give new immigrants the best possible chance of settling down quickly in Hong Kong and making a real substantial contribution to our community and bettering themselves at the same time. So I'll be visiting one or two other services for new immigrants in coming months and I'm hoping to speak on the subject in the autumn.

Question: Mr Patten, Two questions. What do you think in your opinion the priority tasks of the Chief Executive (Designate)? And yesterday and today, some pro-Chinese figures send their praise to Mrs Anson Chan for her possibility to become the number one person after 1997, what is your opinion? And the second question is now there is still one year's time what do you think what remains to be done by your Government? And you personally do you think that you can improve relationship with Chinese side, especially do you think you can have the chance to meet Mr Lu Ping and discuss the transitional matters for Hong Kong?