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Following containment of the SARS outbreak, the Director-General of Investment Promotion at Invest Hong Kong, Mr Mike Rowse today (June 13) stressed the importance of actively re-building local and international confidence in Hong Kong, promoting domestic consumption and attracting international business and trade.
On the government's activities to relaunch Hong Kong, Mr Rowse emphasised that the individual events to be explained later were not a loose collection of items. Rather they were an integral part of a comprehensive strategy. He explained the three-pronged approach - Response, Reassurance and Recovery - to relaunch Hong Kong's economy following the SARS outbreak.
He said: "Our success in the Response Phase has now enabled us to move into the Reassurance Phase, after the World Health Organisation, the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and most recently the US State Department have all lifted their travel advisories on Hong Kong.
"This validates the hard work of our healthcare workers and people throughout our community. They give us tremendous ammunition in our efforts to reassure the world that Hong Kong is safe to visit and that we have measures in place to protect public health."
"Reassurance means that we will now aggressively reach out to the international community to explain that the battle against SARS is won and that Hong Kong is open for business," Mr Rowse added.
"Effective Reassurance will then lead us into the Recovery Phase."
As an immediate next step, the government and the private sector have launched a series of activities aimed at reassuring the international community. These include:
* Actively engage governments, event organisers, and corporations to lift travel restrictions on Hong Kong.
* Take out advertising in leading newspapers in Asia, Europe, Australia and the United States, highlighting that Hong Kong is safe to visit.
* Use Hong Kong's overseas representatives as spokespeople to reach international audiences in broadcast and print media.
* Communicate directly with stakeholders and friends of Hong Kong through e-mails, telephone calls and letters and enlist them in Hong Kong's communications strategy.
* Boost confidence and promote business and local consumption through events which successfully addressed all three relaunch phases.
These two weeks see a number of additional initiatives, including a "Hello from Hong Kong" Postcard Campaign, a two-day SARS Clinical Management Workshop organised by the government and the WHO, and the government's participation in the WHO Global Conference on SARS to be held in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia on June 17 and 18.
Mr Rowse said: "With Hong Kong now in the Reassurance Phase and approaching Recovery, we have clearly demonstrated our 'can do' spirit and the professionalism and dedication which make Hong Kong such a unique and successful place. If we are able to keep up this commitment and maintain the momentum, we will soon see the rewards of our efforts."
End/Friday, June 13, 2003
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