The following is the transcript of the remarks (English) by the Chief Executive, Mr Tung Chee Hwa, at the airport before departing for a visit to Japan today:

CE: I am going to Japan this afternoon. I'll be coming back Friday evening. While I am there, I will be visiting the Prime Minister, the Foreign Minister and several other ministers. I shall also be meeting the leaders in the field of business and commerce as well as banking. At the same time I'll also be meeting people in the tourist industry.

Hong Kong and Japan has a very important economic relationship, a relationship which ranks third - Japan is our third largest partner in terms of trade, Japan is one of our largest investors with about US$11 billion of investment in Hong Kong. Japan also have a lot of tourists who come to Hong Kong. It is an important relationship. I am going to be there to explain to our friends in Japan that what it is, the development after July 1 and how well we are doing, that our economy continue to expand, that our business continue to be good, the whole community is stable and prosperous. I also want to tell our Japanese friends that Hong Kong is still a very attractive place to visit. It is important that we keep up this kind of communication so I look forward to meeting our friends in Japan.

Question: What are you going to do to dissolve this row that Japanese are being overcharged here ?

CE: Yesterday there was a meeting of the tourist industry and the hotel industry and I am glad they came out and clarify the situation that there are no differential charges against any nationalities. They made it very clear, very emphatic. The second point is that tourist industry is very important to Hong Kong . We have provided, as you know, $100 million to the Tourist Association to promote major international events over the next five years. We hope there will be 50 of them and thirdly I will be there in Japan to tell our Japanese friends that Hong Kong continue to be a very attractive place to visit. Thank you very much. I have to catch a flight.