Following is a transcript of the press conference by the Chief Executive, Mr Tung Chee Hwa, after the APEC Leaders Summit in Vancouver today (November 25, Canada time):

Mr Tung: Good evening ladies and gentlemen. First of all, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Canada for a very capable chairmanship and excellent leadership in this APEC meeting which has just been concluded, as a result of particularly Canadian efforts, not only during the meeting but throughout the year. We were able to come out with some very good conclusions, very successful conclusions. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the Canadian people for their very warm hospitality during our stay here in Vancouver.

We covered many topics as you know and I do not intend to go into the details of the (Leaders) Declaration but I would like to highlight a few points.

Firstly, we all acknowledge there is the financial turmoil in Asia but all of us, and I repeat all of us, believe that the fundamentals for sustained growth and prospects in Asia continue to be exceptionally strong. There are many, many good strong fundamentals and we believe the long-term prospects are indeed excellent. At this moment, there is a need to address the issues caused by the financial turmoil, particularly in the three countries - Thailand, Indonesia and Korea - and of course under IMF involvement I'm sure things will move quickly and issues will be tackled resolutely and there will be a successful outcome. But we are looking forward to continued, sustained growth in the Asia-Pacific Region. As I said many times that the 21st Century is the Pacific Century. I have said this before June, up to June, July this year. We have no reason to doubt this should not be the 21st Century, I believe, we all believe the 21st Century will be the Pacific Century.

We, within APEC of course, apart from the economic long-term costs and the financial turmoil issues that were discussed, we also were able to follow up with the successful meeting of the ministers on trade and investment liberalisation on the efforts to have early voluntary sectoral liberalisation and also on further collaboration, deepening of collaboration on economic and technical issues. We fully support the ministers work in these respects and look forward to APEC continuing co-operation in all these areas which will bring substantial benefits to all the Asian communities.

There was also consensus that we must push ahead with WTO's financial agreement, the deadline of which is December 12, and we all want this to be successfully concluded on time. We were also able to agree and welcome three new members to APEC - Peru, Vietnam and Russia.

It was a very good meeting, for me it was particularly meaningful because I was attending the meeting for the first time, I'm sort of the new boy on the block, but also meaningful for Hong Kong because Hong Kong is attending for the first time as a Special Administrative Region of China. These are all very important markers as Hong Kong develops and moves on further.

We will have the meeting for the next APEC meeting in Kuala Lumpur in November next year and I am looking forward to it already.

Thank you.

Yuen Chan, ATV: Mr Tung you had an opportunity to meet Mr Jiang Zemin. What sort of opportunity did you have to talk with him and what did you talk about with him?

Mr Tung: Well, the good thing about these gatherings is the opportunity to talk bilaterally. I did have a chance, obviously during the course of the three days to talk to Mr Jiang Zemin and to talk over a whole range of issues. Uppermost in everybody's mind was the financial turmoil in Asia, what needs to be done. He also is keenly concerned about the financial developments in Hong Kong and I had the opportunity to explain to him the details that Hong Kong is moving ahead fine, that things are settling down and we had some very useful exchange of views on that particular area. Generally, obviously President Jiang is concerned making sure that 'one country, two systems' is moving ahead strongly, that Hong Kong is able to move ahead strongly and I have told him that we have been able to move ahead strongly in all of these areas.

Yuen Chan, ATV: Did Mr Jiang express any concerns about the financial situation in Hong Kong?

Mr Tung: He has full confidence of what we are doing in Hong Kong.

Canadian reporter: The question I have for you sir is that there were a lot of protests in Vancouver against the participation of the PRC. I noticed quite a few signs on the way out to the (inaudible). First of all, did you notice those signs, could you hear the protests or did you (inaudible) and what did you think of those protests, President Jiang relaying his feelings towards (inaudible).

Mr Tung: No, President Jiang Zemin did not discuss this issue with me. But let me tell you my own feelings. I saw those signs, and I heard the noises but this is fine. In Canada, like Hong Kong, demonstration is part of one's life. I would say a number of things that, on issues like Tibet, many of us as Chinese people feel very strongly that Tibet is part of China and that yes, we see those signs, but I'm afraid it's not going to change my view on the issue. When we were having meetings though, honestly, we could not quite hear those noises because we were already inside the museum.

Duncan Hughes, SCMP: What does the help from the IMF study on currency speculation and would you support any recommendation for controls on speculation or speculators?

Mr Tung: I think it is best to wait for the results of the IMF study to come out because IMF is really the best qualified to study these very complex issues, part of it is technical, other parts of it may become quite emotional. So these are the issues that really need in-depth study, so it would not be prudent for me, or proper for me, to make these comments at this moment. I look forward to the study which I understand will be available early in December.

Cliff Bale, RTHK: A follow-up on that last question, (Canadian Prime Minister) Jean Chretien told us earlier today that some people did raise the question of controls on currency speculation. I would like to ask you first for your comments on these calls, whether you support them or you don't, and secondly totally unrelated, did you hold any bilateral talks with any Taiwan officials, Mr Koo, or any other officials, and if you did what emerged?

Mr Tung: As I said earlier on, during the three days there were many opportunities to talk on the fringes with all the leaders, some very briefly others rather more elaborate and I did have a chance to talk to Mr Koo during those three days. In so far as your first question is concerned, I think obviously speculation is, speculation does hurt, but on the other hand once one becomes an open system, one's own fundamentals have to be very strong, as we are in Hong Kong, our fundamentals are very strong. But let us wait for the report of the IMF which is coming out in a couple of weeks time and at that time I should be able to comment on it more in-depth.

Cliff Bale, RTHK: Could I just follow up on the talks with Mr Koo, and what did you discuss and in particular did you discuss the question of talks between China and Taiwan?

Mr Tung: Not at all, not at all. I have known Mr Koo before so we had some very nice, friendly discussions but it was not about politics.

Cliff Bale, RTHK: Did you discuss any substantial issues?

Mr Tung: No.

Sue Lannin, Cable TV: Are you satisfied that the Leaders Declaration goes far enough in addressing financial instability, in particular in regards to Hong Kong?

Mr Tung: I think the Leaders Declaration really has gone quite far because the whole thrust is that the Manila meeting of the deputies of the Ministers of Finance and of the deputies of the governors of Central Banks came out with some very specific recommendation as to how to deal with these issue, they were very good recommendations. They talk about early surveillance, about the assistance will be IMF led and about additional and technical assistance when it is necessary and about supplementary financing resource if it is necessary. So these are there already, there is the existing structure already and what we have done is, what Manila has done, is to strengthen that particular structure and I think we are all very confident that we will move up, move well. In so far as Hong Kong is concerned, as I said in Chinese just a little bit earlier on, that Hong Kong's fundamentals are very strong, we have the third largest foreign exchange reserves, we have huge fiscal reserves, our Budget surplus will be about two per cent, in excess of two per cent of GDP, really the envy almost all the countries of the world and the economy continues to grow and if you look at it carefully, interest rates are starting to now slowly ease off, and that is very important because it is a great concern for the administration because we are keenly aware of the pain of high interest rates and we are looking forward to the day when the interest rate will become more normal.

Sue Lannin, Cable: Are we likely to see a further increase in interest rates if the currency attacks continue?

Mr Tung: Well, I think with Korea now working together with the IMF and Thailand and Indonesia already deeply working with the IMF the known anxieties are all there in front of us. I would hope, I would hope that things are now beginning to settle down in Asia. I know you are concerned about the Yamaichi issue in Japan but let us not forget that Japan is really the largest creditor nation in the world.

Sue Lannin: Then Hong Kong, what about interest rate rises in Hong Kong?

Mr Tung: If the rest of Asia starts to settle down, then I hope Hong Kong will be settling down too.

People's Daily: Regarding the information technology agreement of APEC, there are many students and businessmen from China, from Hong Kong in Toronto, Vancouver (inaudible) and they are experts and key chief engineers in their fields. What's your comment about those businessmen cultivating that information technology future in Hong Kong and in China?

Mr Tung: Well, there are many great talents from Hong Kong, from Taiwan, from China, from the Greater China, who are now working, residing here, many doing very well here. As far as Hong Kong is concerned, high-tech development of information technology is a very important part of our agenda and I would hope that some overseas Chinese will find it attractive enough to come back and work in Hong Kong and contribute to Hong Kong's prosperity.

Canadian reporter: I wanted to ask that if beyond the currency issues if there was much discussion this week on the long-term progress for trade liberalisation, and particularly as it affects developing countries. And also, I noticed a UN Development Report this summer came out with a figure of 500 billion as the cost to developing countries for unfair trade, about 10 times the normal Western foreign aid budget. So I wonder if you could comment on what you think about the figure and if there has been much on the discussion on the longer term issues?

Mr Tung: I think we did touch on the longer term issues, the need for avoiding regional trading blocs, the need for moving ahead with a new round of WTO, and they were discussed and these are the ways that we really should follow through. And in this respect I also hope that there will be early entry of China into WTO, of this round of WTO. In the next round of WTO I would imagine that the focus should be slanted towards more advantage to the developing nations because there is a need for that.

Canadian reporter: Did you think the year 2010 target will be reached?

Mr Tung: Oh, I think the Bogor target (of 2010) is very serious commitment from us and I think everybody is working very hard for it.

Canadian reporter: The 500 billion figure, any comment on that?

Mr Tung: No I have not seen the report, I am not sure what it is, I'm sorry. But I do agree that the developing nations should get, that the focus should be slanted more towards the developing nations' needs, especially the poorer nations.

Midday Newspaper Group of India: As you know India applied for membership in APEC formally in 1991. With the inclusion of three new members, and then there's the moratorium for several years, what I would like to know sir is if you can give us some kind of an insight into some of the discussions over the past several months that have led to the decision to implement a moratorium on new membership until the year 2008?

Mr Tung: To start with, obviously I would like to say India is a very big country, very important country and it is a very fast developing country. Certainly I am very conscious of this. The decision made really was based on the fact that they, the Pacific Rim countries, had been considered previously and up to now. And secondly, that 18 members is rather a large group; 21 members is a larger group and there is a need for all of us to work more closely together, to consolidate the relationship, to move ahead with better understanding, better speed and that's the way the decisions were made. But let me emphasise this, it's open regionalism, APEC is not a closed shop in so far as trade itself is concerned.

Midday Newspaper Group of India: And a quick follow up sir. Your situation in Hong Kong as you are assuming a new leadership role there, what do you see as your greatest challenge in the next year ahead in Hong Kong?

Mr Tung: Well, of course, the immediate challenge is to manage our financials as a result of all the turmoil around us, but of course our focus has been and will be on issues that people really in Hong Kong care, are utmost on their minds. Issues about housing, about education, about information technology and while we deal with the finance side of things we will not lose focus on these very important issues for us in Hong Kong.

Canadian University student: (Inaudible question on youth involvement).

Mr Tung: For Canadian youth, for American youth, for North American youth in the old days in the 1700s the people in the East say "Young man, go west". And this time I say: "Yes, young person go west, but don't stop in Vancouver or San Francisco, come to Hong Kong!"

Mike Chugani, Hong Kong Standard: You just mentioned WTO and China's admission to that. We have just learned that Chinese have in fact put proposals to the US to facilitate their entry into the WTO, we don't know what those proposals are, no one is saying. In your own mind do you think that China now qualifies for WTO and if yes, why do you think it is not yet a member ... (inaudible)?

Mr Tung: I think the Chinese economy is so important. China really should be a member as soon as possible. And I know there is some tough discussion going on, negotiation going on, and these will have to play itself out. But I think the objective of all the main players of WTO is now very clear, whether it is the United States, European Union, Japan, all have stated China must be a member of WTO as early as possible.

Mr Chugani, HK Standard: Inaudible

Mr Tung: I think you will have to ask them.