Chief Secretary for Administration meets European Commissioner Chris Patten in Brussels

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The Chief Secretary for Administration, Mrs Anson Chan, today (Thursday, June 22, Brussels time) held a meeting with the European Commissioner responsible for External Relations, Mr Christopher Patten..

Following the meeting, Mr Patten said it was a great pleasure to welcome Mrs Chan to his new office. He said it was a pleasure to welcome her as a friend, a former colleague, but also as a public servant who is hugely admired in the European Union.

"We were recently required to give our thoughts on progress in Hong Kong since the transition", Mr Patten said, "and while we reflected one or two few concerns which I think had been reflected even more in Hong Kong, we said, which I think is the general view of the EU, we said Hong Kong remains a manifestly free society, as free a society as any in Asia, and that it is also a society which has done extremely well in coping with the financial crash in Asia of 1998-1999 and recovering from that crash.

"We all know very well the enormously important role Mrs Chan has played as Tung Chee Hwa's number two in steering Hong Kong through these occasionally turbulent waters and we very much admire the job that has been done.

"Here in Brussels we want to ensure that we continue to have the closest and most creative possible relationship with Hong Kong, one of the great cities of the world, a city in which of course there is considerable European investment, and I very much hope that this visit will help to strengthen our relationship and that we will be able to welcome Anson Chan and Tung Chee Hwa and their colleagues to Brussels many times in the future."

Mrs Chan said that Hong Kong was extremely fortunate to continue to have a very good friend and supporter in Mr Patten.

"We are particularly encouraged by the Commission's latest report on Hong Kong and particularly encouraged by a statement that Hong Kong remains a free society, that the concept of 'one country, two systems' is working," she said.

"We have taken note of some of the concerns, but I can confirm that the SAR government remains fully committed to maintaining the rule of law, all the rights and freedoms that our people are guaranteed under the Basic Law.

"We very much value our links with our trading partners, particularly with the European Union and with Belgium. My trip this time serves to underline the close ties that we already have with countries in the Union and with Belgium. Last year we have been exporting more to Belgium, but we have also been buying more from Belgium.

"In particular we are also very grateful to the Commission for its support for Hong Kong in our quest for visa-free access for HKSAR passport holders. We think that this will facilitate both business and tourist travel from Hong Kong and from other EU countries, and we look forward very much to a favourable decision on this front."

Photo: The Chief Secretary for Administration, Mrs Anson Chan, had a meeting with the European Commissioner responsible for External Relations, Mr Christopher Patten. Photograph show Mrs Chan being greeted by Mr Patten in his new office.

End/Friday, June 23, 2000

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