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Following is the speech by the Chief Executive, Mr Donald Tsang, at a reception for new foreign and Mainland investors at JW Marriott this evening (July 11):
Ladies and gentlemen,
Good afternoon. Barely 10 months ago, I stood before a similarly large gathering to welcome guests who attended the 5th annual reception for companies that had newly invested in, or expanded their operations in, Hong Kong. It was a confirmation that despite the challenges our community was facing, we remain an attractive location for companies from all over the world to come to do business. And increasingly these days, Hong Kong is the perfect springboard for Mainland companies to launch themselves into the outside world.
This year, I am very happy to see that the tradition of reporting growing numbers has been maintained: at the end of last month, Invest Hong Kong had facilitated 156 completed projects so far this year. This compares with 144 completed investment projects at the same stage last year, representing an increase of 8%. That is, in other words, one new completed foreign investment every working day.
I mentioned earlier that Hong Kong faces a number of challenges and of course, we also have a lot of opportunities. Let's concentrate on the challenges and let me address two of them today.
First is air pollution. Let me assure you that this Government is taking the subject very seriously. This was the subject of my presentation to the Legislative Council yesterday and will remain a priority of my Administration for the remainder of my term. We are aware of the problem and we are taking active steps to deal with it.
Around 20% of our air pollution is domestically generated. We aim to eliminate or reduce about half of that in our negotiations with the power companies over renewal of the schemes of control. Most of the balance is from vehicular emissions, and our Environment, Transport and Works Bureau is working actively on options to reduce it.
By far the greater share of our air pollution comes from South China. We have established solid working relations with the authorities there to deal with the problem at source. They too, I can assure you, are very concerned about the situation. After all, it poses as great a threat to the health of their citizens and economic prosperity as it does to ours. And we are working together on realistic action plans to address the problem. Perhaps this is a good opportunity to appeal to Hong Kong business people as well as Hong Kong-based international business people, to do their part in ensuring that their manufacturing operations in the Pearl River Delta are as environmentally friendly as possible.
Second is the danger of so-called "marginalisation". This is not a new issue. It has been with us in one form or another for at least half a century. The direction the threat comes from changes, but the result would be the same if we ignored such a threat, that is, much diminished economic prospects for our community. But everything in our history tells us that we will not be complacent and slip into gentle decline. On the contrary, everything in the character of Hong Kong people reassures me that our community will remain alert both to dangers and to opportunities. And the Government behaves similarly. Our community never idles. Nor will it allow the Government to do so.
Looking around this room today, I see the representatives of the scores of companies that have made Hong Kong their home in the past 12 months. Welcome to our city. To those who were already here and have made substantial additional commitment, thank you again for your contribution. To all of you I say: stay with us, work with us and prosper with us. Together we can ensure that the genie of marginalisation stays firmly in the bottle.
Thank you very much.
Ends/Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Issued at HKT 19:19
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