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Following is the transcript (English portion) of the press conference held by the Chief Executive, Mr Tung Chee Hwa, after the meeting of the Chief Executive's Council of International Advisers today (November 8):

Mr Tung: We had a broad-ranging discussion with the International Advisers about the global economic situation and the implications for Hong Kong today.

I would like, particularly, to thank Mr Zeng Peiyan, the Chairman of the State Development Planning Commission, for giving the Advisers a presentation on the current economic situation and development prospects in China. Mr Zeng said that with the rapid development in China, Hong Kong had an important role to play. While we can contribute towards the development of the whole country, there are lots of areas for cooperation, in particular with the Pearl River Delta.

Hong Kong is well positioned to take advantage of this development and Hong Kong has many competitive advantages. Aside from our unique geographical location, under the framework of 'One Country, Two Systems', Hong Kong offers institutional strengths which other economies in Asia cannot easily duplicate. Our rule of law, international business links, financial expertise and other service sectors are very well established.

The Advisers acknowledged these competitive advantages of Hong Kong. Following WTO accession, they held the view that the role of Hong Kong as an international financial, transport, logistic and trading centre would be further strengthened with more foreign businesses using Hong Kong as its base for approaching and entering the Chinese market.

On the global economic situation, the economy in the North America, Europe and Japan is going through a very difficult time, particularly after the tragic events of September 11. Hong Kong of course is being adversely affected because we are an external economy and we are now facing really serious challenges. But the Advisers agreed with our view that the medium and long term prospects of Hong Kong's economy remain good.

For Hong Kong, the Advisers agreed that the SAR should continue to strengthen our economic links with the Pearl River Delta and capitalise on the business opportunities offered by China's accession to the WTO. This strategy would put Hong Kong in an advantageous position in capitalising on the eventual recovery of the global economy.

Thank you very much.

Reporter: .......economic problems in the short term,especially in light of the "9-11" incident, and secondly, is there any point in holding these meetings, because most of the members were away today?

Mr Tung: Well,firstly, let me tell you this, this group of advisors are some of the most respected businessmen around the world and they are in their own respective areas of excellence; they are some of the best. Secondly is that yes, not all can come because they are all very busy. But I want to tell you, when they come to Hong Kong during the course of the year, I see them; if it's necesssary I'm on the phone with them; if they see something, they can be on the phone with me. And so it's not just once a year meeting sort of thing, but we continuely have the benefits of their advice, if such advice is sought.

Second point is that Hong Kong is a very external economy and that when the global economy, the economy of our major markets - United States, Japan and Europe, started to go on to decline and pretty serious too, especially after the tragic events of September 11, the Government's ability to respond is somewhat limited. We saw the difficulties coming. What we did, as announced in the Policy Address, was to create over 30,000 jobs, which hopefully will be able to alleviate the unemployment situation somewhat. And what I think is important, as I said early on, is that we have such competitive advantages in Hong Kong as compared with many of the other countries and economies; and we also have our own country really moving forward with confidence, joining WTO in a day or so. And these are all new elements which should make us very confident of our future. And I think in these difficult times, we're going to fight, we're going to have to weather this short term difficulty. But you know, if you look at the medium-long term prospect, it's very very good, so we should be confident.

(Please also refer to the Chinese portion.)

Thursday, November 8, 2001

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