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Following is the transcript (English portion) of a media session by the Chief Executive, Mr Donald Tsang, this afternoon (June 24) in Beijing:

Reporter:  Can I ask you what issues that you have discussed during the meeting with Premier Wen and President Hu. Do they include constitutional reform and also your choice of the new Chief Secretary and things like new choice of your government members?

Chief Executive: As I've just said, the President has discussed with me various main themes on the future of Hong Kong. These themes coincide with what I have proposed in the manifesto during the election, that is we must upgrade governance in Hong Kong; we must create a more harmonious society and we must concentrate and work on improving the livelihood of Hong Kong people and the economy. I also discussed with the Premier, various policies that we have been taking with the support of the Central Government. We have not discussed any specific things about constitutional development, but we talked about the implementation of CEPA (Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement), the individual travel scheme, and particularly how Hong Kong could be used as a more effective platform for helping sizeable and reputable entities in the Mainland to develop their connections overseas and to use Hong Kong as fundraising and as a regional headquarters.

We also discussed how Hong Kong's function at the moment in the extension of the Renminbi market is enjoying reasonable success; Hong Kong's interest, and Hong Kong's position will be considered when there is further movement on the Renminbi front. So we covered a wide range of things, mostly on broad issues rather than on specific matters.

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

Ends/Friday, June 24, 2005
Issued at HKT 19:43

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