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Follows is a transcript of remarks by the Chief Executive, Mr Tung Chee Hwa, today (Friday) after a meeting with U.S. President Bill Clinton in Washington D.C.

Mr Tung: I am delighted to have had a chance to have met President Clinton and his colleagues. We had a very useful discussion with President Clinton and his colleagues just now. We discussed a number of very interesting issues, issues that we are all very concerned about. We discussed the importance of the US Senate and the House passing the PNTR legislation. The PNTR legislation is obviously important for China, for Hong Kong. And I made the point it is important for Hong Kong because we are in the beginning stage of an economic recovery and China's accession to the WTO would give Hong Kong's economy a further boost. So that is very important to us. I also pointed out that PNTR legislation is really very important to the United States of America because American businesses will have unlimited access to a 1.2 billion people market. A negative vote would send wrong signals all over the place and will just give business opportunities to Japanese and European companies. So, it was a very useful and interesting discussion.

Q: What did President Clinton tell you - about Taiwan - what did President Clinton tell you?

Mr Tung: I think it was a very, very useful discussion on all the subjects.

Q: Was Taiwan was one of the subjects? Did you touch upon the Taiwan question?

Mr Tung: I think we touched briefly on all the issues that will affect Asia-Pacific stability and yes we touched whole lot of issues.

Q (Greg Torode, SCMP): What was President Clinton's biggest concern about Hong Kong?

Mr Tung: I had the opportunity to tell President Clinton that our economy is recovering, it's recovering well. The New Economy is setting in and we very much need the PNTR to give us an extra boost. I also told him how well we are doing under 'One Country, Two Systems'. 'One Country, Two Systems' is being successfully implemented in Hong Kong.

Q (Francis Moriarty, RTHK): Did President Clinton give you any indication of whether he felt there was a likelihood of passage for PNTR?

Mr Tung: I think that work still needs to be done and we will all work hard at it. I think it is really in American interests for this bill to be passed. It is in American business interests. It is in America's labour movement interests because it will create more jobs in America. It is in America's environmental groups' interests because free trade creates wealth in America, and in the developing nations, and if wealth is created in developing nations more can be spent on the environment. So it's good for everybody. It's a win-win for everybody.

Thank you

Photo: The Chief Executive, Mr Tung Chee Hwa, meets with the US President, Mr Bill Clinton, in the White House.

Ends/Friday, April 7, 2000

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