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The Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, Mrs Rita Lau, will visit Seattle and San Francisco in the United States between June 2 and 6 to promote business opportunities and co-operation with US companies and research institutes in the development of innovation and technology.
In Seattle, Mrs Lau will visit Microsoft and hold meetings with its management on ICT development. In San Jose and San Francisco, she will speak at major business functions, visit leading information technology and high-tech enterprises, and exchange views with heads of key scientific research institutes.
Mrs Lau will be the keynote speaker at the "Hong Kong Innovation and Technology Summit", to encourage Silicon Valley companies to capitalise on Hong Kong¡¦s advantages for business development in the region.
She will officiate at a "Hong Kong ¡V Smart City, Smart Life" reception in San Francisco. The reception will showcase how technology and innovation have enriched life in Hong Kong - a curtain raiser for the Hong Kong Pavilion at the Urban Best Practices Area of Expo 2010 in Shanghai.
Mrs Lau will visit the Geballe Laboratory for Advanced Materials at Stanford University and the Mission Bay Campus of the University of California ¡V the latter being a world-class biotechnology cluster built under a public-private partnership project.
During her stay in the US, Mrs Lau will call on the Chinese Consul General in San Francisco, Ambassador Gao Zhansheng, meet the heads of US/Hong Kong trade associations and dignitaries from the US trade sector, have exchanges with students and also meet local media.
Mrs Lau will be back in Hong Kong on June 7.
Ends/Monday, June 1, 2009
Issued at HKT 13:01
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