XN000022-1997-04-01 — Page 6

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Chief Secretary to visit Vancouver

The Chief Secretary, Mrs Anson Chan, will conduct a two-day visit on April 3 and 4 at the invitation of the Vancouver Board of Trade and the Hong Kong-Canada Business Association.

Mrs Chan, at present on leave, will arrive in Vancouver on April 2 (Wednesday).

The Chief Secretary, together with Mr C M Leung, Director of Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Toronto, will attend a breakfast meeting hosted by Mr Bill Dalton, President and Chief Executive Officer of Hongkong Bank of Canada on April 3 (Thursday). She will give an update on Hong Kong's transition to business leaders.

Later in the day, Mrs Chan will deliver a keynote speech at a business luncheon jointly organized by the Vancouver Board of Trade and the Vancouver section of the Hong Kong-Canada Business Association.

The anchor program of the day is the Vancouver Board of Trade's 1997 Governors' Banquet. The Chief Secretary has been invited as the Guest of Honour of the annual event, which will feature a presentation entitled "A Special Salute to Hong Kong". The banquet will be attended by 750 members of the elite of the Vancouver business community.

The Chief Secretary will also call on Premier Glen Clark of British Columbia, and meet with researchers at the Fraser Institute, a leading North American think tank which has conducted studies on economic freedom of the world.

On April 4 (Friday), Mrs Chan will have a breakfast meeting with leading members of the Laurier Institution, including Mr Maurice Copithome, former Canadian Commissioner to Hong Kong, Dr Roslyn Kunin, a well-known economist and Executive Director of the institution, and Mr Alan McEachem, Chief Justice of British Columbia. The Laurier Institution, which focuses on the importance of cultural diversity to the building of a united Canada, will soon launch a profile study on Chinese Canadian business people.