********************************************************
The Financial Secretary, Mr John C Tsang, today (May 30) in Prague, capital of the Czech Republic, witnessed the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Law Society of Hong Kong and the Czech Republic Bar Association.
Mr Tsang said it typified the Czech entrepreneurial spirit, adding: ¡§This practical step aims to build new partnerships and co-operation across the legal profession ¡V and I¡¦m sure we¡¦ll see similar projects in other professions in the months and years ahead.¡¨
On the second day of his official visit to Prague, the Financial Secretary had a formal lunch with the Minister of Finance, Mr Miroslav Kalousek, and gave an interview to a Czech television station and briefed Czech journalists.
This round marked the end of Mr Tsang¡¦s week-long visit to Central Europe, where he met senior officials, business chiefs and banking leaders in Austria and Slovenia before going to Prague.
He said the journey was well worth the effort, and the accompanying business delegates had spotted many openings for mutually beneficial operations in the three countries that they would develop.
Some topics, such as carbon emissions trading in the effort to contain global warming, had attracted a swift response. Many officials agreed on the need to tackle inflation for the benefit of their populations, while fluctuations in food and commodity prices were also of general concern.
¡§In our different communities, we face many problems of a similar nature,¡¨ Mr Tsang said. ¡§Working together gives us the best chance of finding solutions.
¡§I have expounded the positive results we derive from Hong Kong¡¦s ¡¥low tax-no tax¡¦ approach, which lets workers keep most of the money they earn owing to our low taxes in general and complete lack of them in some areas.¡¨
The Financial Secretary will next travel to the UK and continue his duty visit in London on Monday before returning to Hong Kong on June 4.
Ends/Friday, May 30, 2008
Issued at HKT 18:20
NNNN
