ENG-1992 — Page 349

COMMUNICATIONS AND THE MEDIA

Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal, with fringe activities staged in another six cities: Edmonton, Winnipeg, Regina, Halifax, Saskatoon and London. With the support of volunteers and local communities, the festival scored a tremendous success with massive media coverage and the programmes were well attended by hundreds and thousands of Canadians together with senior government officials, legislators, dignitaries, community leaders and delegations from Hong Kong.

To mark the closing of the festival, to thank Canada for her friendship, and to promote Hong Kong as Canada's bridge to Asia, the Governor, the Rt Hon Christopher Patten, made an official visit to the country. During his four-day visit in November, he met with the Prime Minister, senior Federal and Provincial Ministers, City Mayors and community leaders.

Europe

The Brussels Office is responsible, among other things, for the government's public relations and publicity efforts in the European Community and its member states (except the United Kingdom which is the responsibility of the London Office) and in Switzerland and Austria. The public relations and press team in the office works closely with Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Family in Europe to give information about Hong Kong to contacts in both the public and private sectors and in the media in Europe to develop and sustain their interest in Hong Kong affairs. The Brussels team also monitors and collects information appearing in the European media which is of relevance or importance to Hong Kong.

Under the sponsored visitors programme, the Brussels Office invites opinion leaders and decision makers from the European Commission, member states governments and major European businesses to visit Hong Kong, to enable them to have a better understanding of its needs and importance. Members of the European Parliament and European media are also included in this programme. In addition, the Brussels Office arranges speaking engagements in many EC countries for senior Hong Kong Government officials and leading members of the Hong Kong community, to explain recent developments.

Japan

The Tokyo Office is responsible for the government's public relations efforts in Japan. It liaises with Japanese ministries and other organisations and arranges programmes for Japanese government officials and other VIPs to visit Hong Kong. It also organises speaking engagements for senior government officers in Japan.

Its Information Unit provides enquiry and information services for the local public about events and developments in Hong Kong; maintains close contacts with the local media; briefs and helps plan programmes for those visiting Hong Kong; and monitors the local media coverage of Hong Kong affairs, responding where necessary to reports of relevance to Hong Kong. The office also maintains contacts with other Hong Kong-based organisations and companies in Japan with a view to optimising Hong Kong's overall promotional efforts.

Australia and New Zealand

There are at present no government offices in Australia and New Zealand, but a public relations firm has been appointed to provide public relations coverage in this region.

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