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Following is the speech by the Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Henry Tang, at the gala dinner of Le French May 2008 at Hong Kong Museum of Art this evening (June 15):
Consul-General, Patrick (Ma, Chairman of Board of Directors of Tung Wah Group of Hospitals), Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Bonsoir. Je suis ravi de me joindre ˆj vous ce soir pour fˆ§ter le grand succˆos d'un nouveau French May. [English translation : Good evening. I am delighted to join you tonight to celebrate another hugely successful Le French May.]
I congratulate everyone involved in this year¡¦s festival.
For the past 16 years, Le French May has brought an authentic taste of French culture to Hong Kong. Through co-operation with counterparts in Hong Kong, the festival reflects the true cosmopolitan nature of this city and friendship between our two places.
One of the many highlights this year has been the splendid collection from Musˆme Guimet, here at the Hong Kong Museum of Art. The theme of the exhibition: "A taste for China: Paris 1730-1930" testifies to the importance of Chinese cultural influence around the world.
Importantly, it also shows the potential of promoting international understanding and friendship through art.
In fact, promoting international friendship is one of our goals in further developing the arts and cultural scene in Hong Kong.
We are making good progress on plans to establish a world-class cultural hub in West Kowloon. This site will be home to the new M+ Museum, galleries and a variety of performing arts that will appeal to people throughout China, Asia and the rest of the world.
For this ambitious project to be successful, we need to foster our local talent and promote arts education and training programmes for the management of facilities. We are also strengthening links with the international arts community.
On the subject of international friendship, I am pleased to see relations between Hong Kong and France continuing to flourish.
As you may know, I had the pleasure of visiting Paris last month. It is a place I have been to many times and I never tire of the vibrant arts and cultural scene offered by this great capital.
The visit turned out to be most fruitful. Our determination to build a cultural hub in Asia met with very positive response from French political, cultural and business leaders. On a more specific note, we reached agreement with the LVMH Group to bring selected art masterpieces from the collection of the Louis-Vuitton Art Foundation to Hong Kong next year.
This will be the first time the Foundation's collection goes international. Hopefully during Le French May 2009, at this very same venue, we'll be celebrating the premiere overseas exhibition of the masterpieces.
Ladies and gentlemen, I believe we can learn a great deal from France as we work to develop the arts as well as cultural heritage, innovation and creativity in Hong Kong.
As we say au revoir to Le French May for another year, our focus turns to the Olympic Equestrian Events of the Beijing Summer Games. It is a great honour for Hong Kong to be a co-host city for the Olympics by staging the Equestrian Events.
I am sure the French riders and their horses will be able to count on a great deal of support in Hong Kong and I wish the French equestrian team every success at the Games.
Apart from the bubbling Moet Hennessy champagne which will kick off the dinner, it is appropriate that tonight we have, if we choose, a glass of wine from Cheval Blanc or d¡¦Yquem to accompany dinner.
Whatever your taste, I am confident we will see more of these, and other fine French vintages in Hong Kong now that we are a duty-free wine city.
While we are enjoying our good food and wine, we must not forget the people whose homes and lives were shattered in the recent Sichuan earthquake. There is no better example to illustrate the French-Chinese friendship than turning tonight's celebration into a charitable dinner for the victims in the earthquake. I look forward to fierce bidding tonight. Your benevolence would help light up hope for the people in Sichuan.
But tonight belongs to the hard working organisers of Le French May and to the talented performers and dedicated individuals behind the scenes who have helped to make this year¡¦s festival such a resounding success. With your dedication and enthusiasm, I am sure celebration parties for Le French May will go on for years to come.
Thank you.
Ends/Sunday, June 15, 2008
Issued at HKT 19:38
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