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The Permanent Secretary for Home Affairs, Mrs Carrie Yau, led a delegation to Qingdao today (August 25). Both Qingdao and Hong Kong will serve as Olympic cities and the purpose of this visit is to meet the Sailing Committee (Qingdao) of the Beijing Organising Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG). Experiences will be shared in the preparatory work for next year's Olympic Games, in the cultivation of an Olympic atmosphere in the city, so that citizens can share the pride of being an Olympic city appointed by the nation and the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
Mrs Yau said she had just attended a meeting of BOCOG in Beijing during which the IOC warmly commended the "Good Luck Beijing - HKSAR 10th Anniversary Cup" Eventing Competition held in Hong Kong. It was anticipated that Hong Kong would begin on more intense city decoration and district activities to cultivate an Olympic atmosphere, so as to engage different sectors in the community and foster an eager anticipation of the Olympic Games among the citizens of Hong Kong. The delegation would like to learn from Qingdao's experience through this visit.
She said: "Being a co-host of an Olympic event is an unparalleled opportunity for Hong Kong. We should make use of this opportunity to further showcase to the rest of the world the vitality, economy, culture and life in Hong Kong to attract overseas tourists or investments. Qingdao will be hosting the Olympics sailing regatta and it has put in tremendous efforts in promoting the city, such as the launch of a major city branding campaign 'Meeting at Olympics, Sailing in Qingdao'."
She also said that as an Olympic city, Hong Kong would have to satisfy BOCOG on a number of stringent requirements in transportation, air quality, security and promotion. During the Olympic Games, there may be some special transport arrangements which could cause inconvenience. Mrs Yau called on the community to bear with the arrangements and support the nation in hosting the Olympics, just like the citizens in Beijing and Qingdao. She noted that although Beijing had adopted various road closure measures such as restricting the number of motor vehicles using the roads based on their licence plate numbers so as to reduce a million or so vehicles running on the roads, local residents were supportive of the special measures to show their hospitality.
Mrs Yau said that as a host city, Hong Kong would ride on the promotion of the Olympic spirit including athletic excellence and team spirit which further drive our young people in enhancing their civic-mindedness through this platform.
She said: "We all know that Hong Kong young people have achieved good results in the sailing test events in Qingdao. We will take this opportunity to study in Qingdao on how to encourage more young people to participate in sports, in the way that the Olympic Charter encourages young people in different countries to actively participate in sports so as to enhance mutual friendship and build a harmonious society."
Other members of the delegation accompanying Mrs Yau in the visit included representatives from the Airport Authority Hong Kong, Hong Kong Tourism Board, Home Affairs Bureau, Information Services Department, Leisure and Cultural Services Department as well as Home Affairs Department.
The delegation will be back to Hong Kong on Monday evening (August 27).
Ends/Saturday, August 25, 2007
Issued at HKT 17:00
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