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Speech by the Chief Secretary for Administration

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Following is the speech by the Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Donald Tsang, at the launching ceremony of the Brand Hong Kong Neon Sign at the Ocean Terminal today (July 2):

Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,

Thank you all for coming tonight to a special Brand Hong Kong event that is set to change the face of our glittering, world-famous skyline.

I am sure that you are all very familiar with our distinctive Brand Hong Kong dragon. Since Brand Hong Kong was launched by the Chief Executive Mr Tung in May last year, our new dragon has become an integral part of life here in Hong Kong. You can see it everywhere - on trams and buses, on street-light banners, on posters and on TV commercials. Some of our guests came here tonight on the Brand Hong Kong Star Ferry.

Our Economic and Trade Offices overseas have been extensively using the Brand to promote Hong Kong. During my visits overseas on behalf of the SAR Government, people often comment on how much they like our Brand Hong Kong dragon. The dragon's free flowing lines - which incorporate both the Chinese characters for 'Heung Gong' and the English letters H K - embody the free spirit of Hong Kong people. The Brand Hong Kong dragon represents our core values - progressiveness, freedom, stability, opportunity and quality. These underpin the uniqueness of our society and development as a sophisticated economy. Hong Kong people and I are all proud of these. I wear this little dragon on the lapel of my coat every day.

Just as important, the Brand Hong Kong programme has helped to focus greater attention on all that we offer as the world city of Asia. Hardly a day goes by now in Hong Kong when we don't hear or read the words 'Asia's world city'. The Brand Hong Kong programme has set the standard by which we must judge ourselves, and by which we will be judged. We must constantly strive to ensure that we make the grade as the world city of Asia in everything that we do.

In just a few minutes you will see our latest - and most visible - effort to keep the spirit of the Hong Kong dragon in the hearts and minds of residents and visitors. From now on, whenever you see one of those trademark photos of our night-time skyline, the Brand Hong Kong dragon will be there, shining brightly for all to see. No doubt, it will feature in a wide variety of promotional material such as photos, calendars and videos.

At this juncture, I must thank the Director of Architectural Services, Mr S H Pau and his dedicated colleagues for making this particular Brand Hong Kong project possible. Mr Pau and his colleagues have worked very hard over the past few months to give us the giant neon dragon that will become a permanent fixture of Hong Kong's skyline. Special thanks must go to the team who oversaw this project. For those of you interested in statistics, the sign is 26 metres long and 15 metres high - or 80 feet long and 50 feet high if you prefer non-metric measurements. It contains almost 450 neon tubes carrying a charge of 10,000 volts.

I would also like to thank Wharf Holdings for their continued support of the Brand Hong Kong programme. Wharf have been very generous in helping us with local promotion through the branding of trams and the Star Ferry and for this we are very grateful. We certainly welcome further participation in the Brand Hong Kong programme from other Hong Kong companies. As the Three Musketeers often remarked: All for one, and one for all.

Once again ladies and gentlemen, thank you all for coming tonight. And just remember, from now on, whenever you see of photo of the Brand Hong Kong dragon glowing brightly at night, you saw it here first!

Thank you.

End/Tuesday, July 2, 2002

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