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Following is the speech by the Chief Executive, Mr Donald Tsang, at the Pearl River Delta Dinner hosted by the Premier of British Columbia, Mr Gordon Campbell, in Vancouver today (October 23, Vancouver time):
Premier Campbell, Governor Huang, Ambassador Lu, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,
It gives me great pleasure to be back in Vancouver. This is my third official visit to this beautiful city, recently ranked by the Economist Intelligence Unit as the World's Most Liveable City.
When I last visited Vancouver in 2000, I was the Financial Secretary of Hong Kong and Premier Campbell was Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly. Time flies, and we have both moved on to new challenges in our political careers.
During those past five years, the connection between Canada and Hong Kong has strengthened. A survey this year by a Hong Kong university counted almost a quarter of a million residents of Hong Kong who are Canadian passport holders. About 1.1 million people - nearly one-sixth of our population - have close family links to Canada, and about 8% of our population has studied in this country.
Strong social links like these have nurtured the ever-growing and vibrant economic partnership between us. Hong Kong businesses have invested CAN$5.3 billion here in Canada, making Hong Kong Canada's eighth largest investor, and the second biggest from Asia. In this way, Hong Kong people have helped fuel the economies of British Columbia and Canada.
And it works both ways, of course. Hong Kong is now home to the largest Canadian business community in Asia. One hundred and fifty Canadian companies maintain branches or subsidiaries in Hong Kong, and another 450 are represented by distributors, agents or joint venture partners.
The Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong is your largest business association outside Canada - and a very active one, at that. Canadian products - from seafood and Triple-O burgers, to high-tech devices like the BlackBerry that more and more of us carry around these days - are all highly regarded in Hong Kong.
I believe such strong economic and social ties will be instrumental in supporting Canada's initiative to double the level of its trade and investment relationship with China by 2010, as well as British Columbia's far-sighted Asia-Pacific Gateway Strategy.
The purpose of tomorrow's forum is to provide the Canadian business community with a better understanding of the economic developments taking place in Hong Kong and Guangdong, and how they can make use of Hong Kong and the strong Canadian presence there to gain faster and safer access to the Mainland China market.
Premier Campbell, I want to thank you for your hospitality tonight. I would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate British Columbia and Guangdong on the 10th anniversary of sisterhood between the two provinces.
Ladies and gentlemen, I look forward to seeing you all again at tomorrow's forum.
Now, I would like to propose a toast:
"To the friendship between the people of Hong Kong and British Columbia."
Ends/Monday, October 24, 2005
Issued at HKT 14:53
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