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The following is the speech delivered by the Postmaster General, Mr Luk Ping-chuen at the "Beijing-Kowloon Through Trains" Special Stamps Issuing Ceremony today (June 9).

Mr Yuen, distinguished guests and friends from the media,

Thank you for joining us today at the issuing ceremony of the "Beijing-Kowloon Through Trains" Special Stamp Issue. I would like to extend our special thanks to Mr. Ronnie Yuen, Chairman of the Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong for officiating at today's ceremony. As we all know, railway is a kind of reliable and efficient mass transit carrier, which enhances peoples' movement and logistics flow between different places. The functions of postal service also resemble those of the railway in this respect. Postal administrations over the world work together as if train stations in a mass railway network link and serve people of all walks of life. Both services are essential to the enhancement of worldwide social and commercial exchanges.

The relationship between Hong Kong and Mainland China has been increasingly close ever since the return of Hong Kong's sovereignty in 1997. The prospering social and economic activities in both areas have generated a great demand for railway service between Hong Kong and the Mainland. The Beijing-Kowloon Through Train service was launched as a result. To commemorate the 5th Anniversary of the through train service, Hongkong Post therefore issued this set of stamps today.

The stamps are a set of four. When placing side by side, they depict a running train in whole. The design gives us an idea of a wonderful excursion, as romantic as a ride on the rainbow. On the road, there are four stops taking on different hues. Violet stands for commercial buildings at Central in Hong Kong; green for Wuhan Changjiang Bridge in Wuchang; yellow for the Pagodas at Shaolin Monastery in Zhengzhou; and gold for the Temple of Heaven in Beijing. There are ten pairs of windows on the train, which represent the ten stops along the railroad. The windows are paired up as to symbolise the close ties between Hong Kong and our motherland.

I hope you would like these stamps and I also hope that the Beijing-Kowloon Through Train will bring more and more tourists from the Mainland to Hong Kong, so that our tourism can be further boosted.

Thank you.

End/Sunday, June 9, 2002

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