******************************************
The Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Mr Frederick Ma, will lead a delegation to the Middle East on Friday (January 26) to promote business co-operation in the areas of financial services and infrastructure.
The six-day visit, organised by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, covers Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and Abu Dhabi and Dubai of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The delegation comprises some 30 members from the financial services sector and the infrastructure and real estate services industry, including legislators representing the insurance and the architectural, surveying and planning sectors respectively, Mr Bernard Chan and Mr Patrick Lau.
During the visit, they will meet with government officials, chambers of commerce and institutional investors.
In Dubai, Mr Ma will address 200 senior decision makers from the Middle East and China at a conference organised to examine the opportunities and challenges emerging from the rapid growth in trade and investment between the Middle East and China.
Mr Ma said the impressive economic performance and adoption of an outward-oriented development strategy by Saudi Arabia and the UAE had created a wealth of opportunities for further co-operation with Hong Kong in the areas of financial services and infrastructure.
"The visit provides a good opportunity for us to promote Hong Kong as an international financial centre and our quality services while the delegation members can learn more about the latest economic development and investment opportunities there," Mr Ma said.
"We hope that through this visit, we will be able to strengthen the economic ties between Hong Kong and the two countries," he said.
Ends/Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Issued at HKT 14:31
NNNN
