ENG-2009 — Page 413

Communications, the Media and Information Technology | 341

during which he attended the HKTDC London Dinner. Mr Tsang also visited Russia and Sweden in May and June, and Mrs Lau visited Finland in July.

To strengthen Hong Kong's cultural links with the United Kingdom, the London ETO organised or supported a number of artistic, creative and musical events during the year. The London ETO presented young Hong Kong musicians in concerts in Birmingham and Liverpool, and organised a series of concerts in London by Hong Kong jazz guitarist Eugene Pao.

In visual arts, the London ETO supported art exhibitions and projects around the United Kingdom in which Hong Kong artists were involved. It also supported a major film festival celebrating Hong Kong's women directors, showing more than 20 films in Manchester in October and November, with other screenings around the United Kingdom. The office also sponsored the London Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival in London Docklands, which attracted 44 participating teams and thousands of festival-

goers.

London ETO made its fifth appearance at London's Lord Mayor's Show. Its entry recreated Hong Kong's iconic skyline in flag form, along with skaters dressed to represent Hong Kong's street trams. Over 500 000 people along the route watched the show which was broadcast to 300 million people around the world.

In association with the HKTDC, the London ETO organised 10 Chinese New Year events in six countries to celebrate the Year of the Ox: UK, Russia, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland. The London ETO and the Hong Kong Tourism Board also sponsored the Chinese New Year celebration organised by the London Chinatown Chinese Association at Trafalgar Square and Shaftsbury Avenue, which carried the theme, 'Hong Kong in London Chinatown' featuring banners and people dressed as trams and Hong Kong's iconic Star Ferries.

The Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Berlin held a reception on May 19 to mark the commencement of operation of the first overseas ETO to be set up after Hong Kong's reunification with China in 1997. More than 200 guests, including Federal Government officials, business contacts in Berlin and nearby cities and medial acquaintances attended the event.

To coincide with the occasion, the office commissioned a special supplement in a German magazine, Diplomatisches Magazin and placed advertisements in two newspapers, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and China Contact to publicise Hong Kong as Asia's world city and the message that 'our door is open'. Berlin ETO also published a booklet in English and German to give visitors and contacts an update on Hong Kong and on the continuing success of the 'one country, two systems' principle under which Hong Kong is run.

The office also sponsored a TV documentary entitled 'Mythos Hong Kong' featuring the work of the HKETO, developments in Hong Kong's tourism industry, economy, politics and creative industry. The documentary was shown on the German news channel, n-tv, from December 2009 until January 2010 and will be repeated in the summer of 2010.