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The Financial Secretary, Mr John C Tsang, will leave for Australia tonight (July 31) to attend the 14th Finance Ministers¡¦ Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) in Coolum, Australia.
The policy themes of this year¡¦s meetings are ¡§Making private capital markets work better¡¨ and ¡§Transparency and sustainability of the public balance sheet¡¨.
During the two-day meeting, Mr Tsang will exchange views with finance ministers of other member economies on issues relating to the two themes. He will also take the opportunity to hold bilateral meetings with his ministerial counterparts.
APEC was established in 1989 to further enhance economic growth and prosperity for the region and to strengthen the Asia-Pacific community. Member economies of APEC are Australia; Brunei Darussalam; Canada; Chile; China; Hong Kong, China; Indonesia; Japan; Korea; Malaysia; Mexico; New Zealand; Papua New Guinea; Peru; the Philippines; Russia; Singapore; Chinese Taipei; Thailand; the United States and Vietnam.
After the APEC meeting, Mr Tsang will travel to Brisbane on Friday (August 3) and Sydney on Saturday (August 4) before flying to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
He will attend the Hong Kong Films Reception of the Brisbane International Film Festival in Brisbane. In Sydney, he will meet representatives from business organisations with close Hong Kong connections, such as the Hong Kong Australia Business Association and the Australia-China Business Council.
In Kuala Lumpur, Mr Tsang will meet senior government finance officials and will also have discussions with major banks and financial investment entities on global and regional financial development, including the subject of Islamic finance.
Mr Tsang will return to Hong Kong next Tuesday (August 7).
Ends/Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Issued at HKT 16:00
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