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The Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (HKETO), Berlin held a reception in Berlin to celebrate the Chinese New Year of Dragon yesterday (February 2, Berlin time). A traditional lion dance opened the reception.
Over 200 guests joined the Director of the HKETO, Berlin, Mr Ivan Lee and his team in the celebration. Among the guests were State Secretary of the Federal Foreign Office of Germany, Dr Emily Haber, ambassadors and their representatives of the countries under the HKETO, Berlin's purview, as well as other senior diplomats, officials, the business community and the academia. Mr Lee briefed the guests on the latest developments in Hong Kong. He said that Hong Kong did reasonably well amid the global economic slowdown with a projected GDP growth of 5 percent for 2011.
"As an external-oriented economy, Hong Kong did not entirely escape the recent global economic crisis. At the same time, much of our ability to weather such crises is attributed to our adherence to free market principles and business friendly environment," Mr Lee explained. He briefed the guests a number of firsts that Hong Kong achieved in various surveys and studies conducted by international organisations, including the world's freest economy for the 18th consecutive year by the Washington-based Heritage Foundation, the world's most competitive economy by the International Institute for Management Development based in Lausanne, Switzerland in 2011, Hong Kong topping the World Economic Forum's Financial Development Index 2011 amongst 60 world economies, and the world's most open market according to the first ICC Open Markets Index released in December 2011 by the International Chamber of Commerce.
Mr Lee explained the unique position of Hong Kong to the Mainland helped cushion the effect of a global slowdown. He said, "in the most recent National 12th Five-Year Plan promulgated in March 2011, the Central Government dedicated for the first time an entire chapter to Hong Kong together with Macau. The chapter expands on the significant functions and positioning of Hong Kong in national development strategy. It emphasises the Central Authorities' support for Hong Kong to consolidate and enhance its position as China's global financial centre and international trade and shipping centre, as well as support for Hong Kong's development into an offshore Renminbi (RMB) business centre". He went on to elaborate on Hong Kong's development into an offshore RMB business centre, including that Hong Kong is currently handling over 90 percent of China's global RMB trade.
Mr Lee also heralded some of the key events in Hong Kong in 2012, including the Chief Executive election in March which would be determined for the first time by a 1200-member strong Election Committee; the Legislative Council election in September with an additional 10 seats; and the 15th anniversary of Hong Kong's reunification with China. Mr Lee then briefed the guests on the package of measures for stabilising Hong Kong's economy, protecting people's livelihood and investing for the future as announced in the annual Budget Speech on February 1.
A performance by Dong West, a fusion duo of Vivien Lee and Volker Greve, ended the evening's programme. Apart from Berlin, the HKETO, Berlin organises 10 other receptions across eight countries, including Bratislava, Budapest, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Ljubljana, Munich, Prague, Vienna, Warsaw and Zurich.
Ends/Friday, February 3, 2012
Issued at HKT 23:14
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