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Following is the transcript(English portion) of a press conference given by the Chief Executive, Mr Tung Chee Hwa, and the Governor of Guangdong Province, Mr Huang Huahua, after chairing the sixth meeting of the Hong Kong/Guangdong Co-operation Joint Conference today(August 5).

Reporter: We've already been hearing some concerns from certain sectors that the construction of this bridge may not necessarily be a good thing for some people in Hong Kong. Why are you so confident that that is not going to be the case and which particular sectors do you think will be the main beneficiaries of this bridge?

Chief Executive: I think if you look at the development history of Hong Kong over the past 50 years, you will come to the conclusion, as I have done, that building that bridge is going to be very good for Hong Kong, for the whole of Hong Kong in the long run. I'm quite confident of that.

Thank you.

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

End/Tuesday, August 5, 2003

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( Floor / Cantonese / Putonghua / English )