*******************************************************
The Financial Secretary Mr Henry Tang touched down at Geneva yesterday (May 14, Switzerland time), starting his duty visit to Europe.
Geneva is the first stop of Mr Tang's five-day visit to Switzerland and France. He will also visit Bern and Cannes.
Mr Tang attended a lunch meeting organised by the new Permanent Representative of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China (HKSAR) to the World Trade Organization (WTO) Mr Martin Glass. Principal guests at the lunch included the ambassadors to WTO of various member economies and HKSAR's Special Representative (European Community) in Brussels Mr Duncan Pescod.
Mr Tang exchanged views with the ambassadors on the progress and outlook for the Doha Round negotiations. He also reaffirmed Hong Kong's commitment to improve multilateral trade rules and systems.
"Hong Kong is a staunch supporter of free trade and we believe free trade is a key to improving the living standard of people in less developed economies.
"While the Doha Round is yet to be concluded, we have come a long way since Cancun. It will be a pity if we cannot manage to pull it off in what seems to be the final stretch of negotiations," he said.
Mr Tang also attended a dinner hosted by Director-General of the WTO Mr Pascal Lamy in the evening. Mr Tang said that with Hong Kong's commitment to free trade and the technical competence of its trade policy officials, Hong Kong would continue to take up an active role and contribute to the successful conclusion of the Doha Round negotiations.
Mr Tang will visit Bern today (May 15) for meetings with the Federal Councillor and Federal Minister of Finance Mr Hans-Rudolf Merz and senior officials of the Swiss National Bank, the central bank of Switzerland.
Ends/Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Issued at HKT 13:51
NNNN
