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To celebrate the 17th anniversary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, Brussels hosted a reception in Brussels, Belgium on June 30 (Brussels time).
In her welcoming address, the Special Representative for Hong Kong Economic and Trade Affairs to the European Union, Ms Linda Lai, outlined the successful implementation of the "One Country, Two Systems" principle in the past 17 years with the staunch support of the Central Government and great efforts of Hong Kong citizens.
"People of Hong Kong have been running the city with a high degree of autonomy in accordance with the 'One Country, Two Systems' principle enshrined in our constitutional document, the Basic Law," Ms Lai said.
"Hong Kong is vested with executive, legislative and independent judicial power. Our Court of Final Appeal has the power of final adjudication in Hong Kong. We have our own financial system, with our own currency - the Hong Kong dollar. Hong Kong can conclude its own bilateral agreements in many different areas such as air services, taxation, trade, investment, and legal matters, just to name a few examples."
Ms Lai added that since the reunification, Hong Kong has continued to prosper. For the past 20 consecutive years, Hong Kong has been ranked as the world's freest economy by the Heritage Foundation in the United States. These advantages enabled Hong Kong to be the super-connector between Mainland China and international businesses, providing professional and trustworthy services including accounting, law, logistics, etc. to both sides.
"The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the Central Government share the aspiration of Hong Kong people for universal suffrage in the 2017 Chief Executive election and are committed to achieve it," Ms Lai said.
Over 60 guests from European institutions, diplomatic missions, think tanks and the business circle attended the reception. To promote the unique food culture of Hong Kong, signature Hong Kong delicacies were served at the reception.
Ends/Wednesday, July 2, 2014
Issued at HKT 08:22
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