Speech by the Postmaster General

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The following is the full text of the speech delivered by the Postmaster General, Mr Luk Ping-chuen, at the "2000 Olympic Games" special stamps preview ceremony today (August 19):

Mr Fok, distinguished guests and friends from the media,

Thank you for joining us today at the "2000 Olympic Games" special stamps preview ceremony. I would like to extend our special thanks to Mr Timothy Fok, President of the Sports Federation and Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, China, for officiating today's ceremony.

During the last few years, Hong Kong athletes have remarkable achievements in the international arena. After winning the first gold medal for Hong Kong for windsurfing in the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Ms Lee Lai-shan as well as her brilliant performance strongly aroused the enthusiasm of our community for the quadrennial international games. It is also encouraging to see that, quite a number of our athletes have achieved outstanding performance in other international events during the past four years. We sincerely hope that the Hong Kong Delegation will keep up with their good work and gain honour for Hong Kong in the 27th Olympic Games to be held in Sydney, Australia.

To commemorate this grand sports event in the new millennium, Hongkong Post will issue the "2000 Olympic Games" special stamps on August 27. The set of four stamps depicts the popular games that the Hong Kong delegation has participated in. The first and the second sets were issued in 1992 and 1996 respectively. This is the third set of special stamps released by Hongkong Post to celebrate the Olympic Games and the first set issued in the same theme by HKSAR since the handover in 1997.

We are very much honoured to have this opportunity to extend our support to the Hong Kong Delegation. We wish them getting off to a flying start and excel in the international sports arena.

Thank you.

End/Saturday, August 19, 2000