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Following is the transcript (English portion) of the media session given by the Information Coordinator, Mr Stephen Lam, to reporters outside Government House today (November 24) :

IC : The Chief Executive has always been very concerned and interested in the development of Hong Kong's professional services. Today, he has met with over one hundred members of Hong Kong's professions to encourage them to take every advantage of China's accession to WTO (World Trade Organisation), and to extend the scope for Hong Kong's economic development in this regard.

We understand that a delegation of Hong Kong professional representatives will be visiting Chongqing next week. We hope that by using this opportunity, they will be able to gain a better understanding of developments in that region and also to start planning for the long term extension of Hong Kong's professional services in that particular area.

Today, in addressing the gathering of Hong Kong's professionals, Mr Tung highlighted the fact that over 20 years ago when Mainland China started to open up to the outside world, Hong Kong's manufacturing sector has very successfully relocated across the border, and as a result, Hong Kong has undergone an economic restructuring very smoothly so much so that we are now predominantly a service-oriented economy.

We believe that China's accession to WTO offers extensive scope for Hong Kong's professional services, Hong Kong's service industry to extend its horizons so much so that we will no longer be restricted to serving just the 6.7 million people in Hong Kong, we can cast our net wider to serve the population of well over 40 million in the Pearl River Delta, and perhaps beyond the Pearl River Delta to serve the 1.3 billion people in the Mainland.

(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)

End/Saturday, November 24, 2001

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