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FS' speech at HK International Wine & Spirits Fair opening ceremony (English only)(With photos/video)
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     Following is the speech delivered by the Financial Secretary, Mr John C Tsang, at the opening ceremony of Hong Kong International Wine and Spirits Fair held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre this morning (November 4):

Fred (Lam), distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,

     Good morning.  

     It is my great pleasure to join you this morning and to welcome our overseas visitors to Hong Kong.

     The second Hong Kong International Wine & Spirits Fair is set to be even bigger and more diverse than last year's inaugural event.

     The size of the fair has, indeed, doubled with more than 500 exhibitors from more than 30 countries and regions taking part. We also have the famous Italian roadshow exhibition Vinitaly joining the fair for the first time and a new Wine & Spirit Competition. Of course, most of our favourite wine regions are also represented here.

     When I eliminated wine duties in the Budget last year, our goal was to establish Hong Kong as a wine trading and distribution centre in Asia. So far, so good - but we still have a long way to go.

     The story so far - in the past 20 months the Government has streamlined customs procedures for wine and signed co-operation agreements with major wine producing nations and regions around the world.

     We have seen new storage facilities open up and trading companies expand their operations here. More people are learning about wine and training to become sommeliers. Last year, the value of our wine imports jumped 80 per cent year-on-year to $2.9 billion. In the first eight months of this year, imports amounted to $2.3 billion, a 42% increase year-on-year. We also appear set to overtake London this year in becoming the second biggest centre for wine auctions just behind New York.

     The first Wine and Dine Festival at the West Kowloon promenade I opened last Friday attracted as many as 70,000 people over three days. This was a pleasant surprise to us, and our friends from Bordeaux who co-organised the event!

     What's next? As a wine trading hub in Asia we need to uncork the potential market on the Mainland which is predicted to be an important growing market for wine in the next decade and beyond.

     I am pleased to tell you that we have just reached agreement with the Mainland Customs to provide customs facilitation measures for wine exported from Hong Kong to the Mainland. We are also discussing with their food safety department, the Administration of Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, to see if we can introduce even further measures.

     The Government is facilitating the industry in launching a scheme for accrediting storage facilities which meet certain required standards. Such an accreditation system is essential to preserving the value of fine wine as an investment asset. The scheme is expected to be rolled out by the end of this year, and is likely to be the first of its kind anywhere.

     Ladies and gentlemen, that is what we have been doing in the past year or so, and we will continue to do all we can to make Hong Kong the wine trading and distribution centre of Asia. I wish to congratulate our Trade Development Council on turning the Hong Kong International Wine and Spirits Fair into an annual event and bringing so many industry professionals together under the same roof.

     Thank you all for your support of this exciting event, and have a great Wine Fair.

Ends/Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Issued at HKT 11:53

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