SFST to visit the US
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    The Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Professor K C Chan, will leave on Sunday (May 11) for an official visit to the United States. He will meet senior government officials and corporate leaders of mercantile and stock exchanges, investment banks and credit rating agency in New York, Washington, DC, and San Francisco to promote Hong Kong¡¯s status as an international financial centre.

    On May 12, Professor Chan will visit the New York Mercantile
Exchange and meet senior executives of the Exchange. He will also attend a luncheon hosted by the New York Stock Exchange. In the afternoon, Professor Chan will deliver a keynote speech at a seminar hosted by HSBC, USA, Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in New York and the Hong Kong Association of New York.

    Arriving in Washington, DC on May 13, Professor Chan will call on Chairman of the Board of Governors of the  Federal Reserve System Mr Ben Bernanke and Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission Mr Christopher Cox.  On May 14, Professor Chan will call on Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs Mr David McCormick. Before leaving for San Francisco, Professor Chan will address at a luncheon organised by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

    On May 15, Professor Chan will address the Hong Kong Financial Summit in San Francisco Bay Area on ¡°Globalisation Through Hong Kong¡¯s Capital Markets¡±. The summit is jointly hosted by Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in San Francisco (SFETO) and Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited and co-organised by Invest Hong Kong and the Santa Clara Chamber of Commerce. In the afternoon, Professor Chan will visit Stanford University and talk to faculty members and students.

    Before concluding his visit, Professor Chan will attend a reception hosted by the SFETO and the Hong Kong Association of Northern California.

    He will return to Hong Kong on May 17.

Ends/Friday, May 9, 2008
Issued at HKT 17:00

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