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Following is the speech by the Financial Secretary, Mr John C Tsang, at the Trade Fair Capital luncheon in Moscow, Russia today (June 2, Moscow time):
Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Dobry den.
It is my great pleasure to be here in Russia. Thank you for your warm welcome and hospitality.
It is easy to see why Russia hosts so many trade fairs each year. You serve a large market and you have fantastic global connections as well as a wide range of quality exhibition venues. This combination presents huge opportunities for Hong Kong traders who are coming here in growing numbers.
In Hong Kong, we also serve a large hinterland covering both the Mainland of China and countries throughout East Asia. Hong Kong is within five hours' flying time from half the worldˇ¦s population. Our prime location helps to connect buyers and suppliers from around the world to the vast Mainland market on our doorstep.
Although it takes a little longer than five hours to get to Hong Kong from Moscow, most of our business visitors believe the trip is worth making regardless of the distance. And because we have recently signed a mutual visa-free agreement with Moscow, it will soon become a lot more convenient for people to travel between Russia and Hong Kong. I am confident that this will open the door to even more bilateral business opportunities.
You will find Hong Kong to be a welcoming and vibrant setting that is tailor-made for business. Although both English and Chinese are official languages in Hong Kong, English is the language of our business community. We have world-class infrastructure and services, and a clean and efficient civil service. Taxes and red tape are kept to a minimum and I mean minimum, and we have a wide range of hotels to match every need.
Iˇ¦m sure you will agree that there is no substitute for experience when it comes to running a successful trade show. Hong Kong hosts more than 300 international trade events each year. These include some of the biggest events in the region covering toys, jewellery, household goods, catering, telecommunications and much more. One of our mega events this year will be the Asian Aerospace International Expo in September. We expect more than 11,000 visitors to attend this event at the AsiaWorld-Expo, which is conveniently situated right next to our international airport.
Another world-class venue is the Convention and Exhibition Centre in the heart of the city. This facility has just been expanded to meet demand for more exhibition space.
Why the huge demand?
Well, no one connects China to the world, and the world to China, like Hong Kong does.
Ladies and Gentlemen, once again thank you for your warm hospitality. You have helped to get my first trip to Russia off to an extremely promising start.
Please also take this as an invitation to visit us soon to see for yourselves why Hong Kong means business.
Thank you very much.
Ends/Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Issued at HKT 17:55
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