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Following is the speech (English only) by the Chief Secretary for Administration, Mrs Anson Chan, at Millennium Hong Kong - The Dragon's Spirit Launching Ceremony in Vancouver on Thursday (June 17, Vancouver time):

Mr. Gautier, Senator Poy, Mr. Johnston, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,

Good morning. On behalf of the Hong Kong SAR Government and our tourism industry, I am delighted to introduce our Millennium Hong Kong campaign.

Canada, and Vancouver in particular, has long been one of our most valued sources of business, family and leisure visitors, with arrivals surging by 9% last year.

There are myriad ties, economic and personal, that bind our two communities. Both cities are blessed with outstandingly scenic harbours and outlying islands. You have your Victoria Island and Stanley Park to delight visitors; ours flock to Victoria Peak and Stanley Village. We have both retained many other aspects of our British colonial heritage, including the Common Law and an ability to spell harbour and centre correctly! Not surprisingly, many of my compatriots have chosen to establish new roots here in Vancouver.

Our Millennium campaign is designed to foster an even stronger cross-Pacific relationship in the next century. Vancouver is Asia's gateway to Canada, and Hong Kong is determined to remain the preferred gateway to southern China for Canada and its NAFTA partners. We are also boosting our appeal for you as a travel destination, expanding our inventories of tourist infrastructure, attractions and services.

For many years, Hong Kong has been the most popular single travel destination in Asia. In 1998, almost 10 million visitors travelled to Hong Kong, enjoying its unique qualities as one of the top international cities.

Since its return to Chinese sovereignty almost two years ago, Hong Kong has lost none of its former attractions. Now a self-ruling Special Administrative Region of China, it has gained even clearer value as a travel destination, as the ideal gateway to Mainland China and Southeast Asia. Many visitors choose to visit only Hong Kong, to enjoy as fully as possible conferences and exhibitions and world-class culinary, sightseeing, shopping and entertainment attractions.

At the start of the next millennium, we are offering world travellers extra incentives to discover Hong Kong's dynamic 'Dragon's Spirit'.

As many of you will know, next year is particularly auspicious, being the Chinese Year of the Dragon. So that will be the theme for many of the exciting events we have planned to mark the turn of the century. So I very much hope that you will come visit the City of Life very soon.

Thank you.

End/Friday, June 18, 1999

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