February 14, 2003

Ladies and gentlemen,

Happy Chinese New Year and Kung Hei Fat Choy! Welcome to the opening ceremony of our Chinese New Year celebration events in Calgary. It’s always a pleasure to visit Calgary because Calgary, like Hong Kong, is a dynamic city always striving for progress. Whilst Hong Kong has developed from the Pearl of the Orient in the 80s and 90s to Asia’s world city in the 21st century, Calgary is unquestionably not only the “Heart of the New West” (Note: Calgary’s tag line) but also one of the brightest rising stars in Canada and North America. That is why we have come up with this befitting title for our events today: “Hong Kong and Calgary – Cities of Dynamism”.

Although both Hong Kong and Calgary embrace development and progress, we have never lost sight of our culture and tradition. Calgary’s promotional logo of a stylized cowboy hat and Hong Kong’s new brand of a stylized flying dragon (pointing to a BrandHK exhibit) reflect our deep cultural root. Around this time last year at this same venue, we celebrated a Calgary tradition by sending off the Calgary Stampede to participate in Hong Kong’s Chinese New Year Parade. This year, we are proud to introduce to you a Chinese traditional festival much celebrated in Hong Kong: the Spring Lantern Festival.

More popularly known as the Chinese Valentine’s Day, the Spring Lantern Festival used to be a rare occasion in a year where young men and women could have free social contacts with each other through the appreciation of beautiful lanterns and the solving of riddles. I am not sure whether these beautiful lanterns and riddles being displayed here today would be able to play their romantic role as Cupid for the men and women of Calgary today. But I do believe that they will help build a stronger connection between Hong Kong and Calgary. It is because many of these riddles are actually questions to help Calgarians understand more about Hong Kong. To make it more fun and rewarding, the luckiest winner of the riddle competition will receive a free return ticket from Calgary to Hong Kong.

Now, assuming that this lucky winner is a first-time visitor to Hong Kong, upon landing at Hong Kong’s award-winning International Airport, he will be greeted by the world’s longest road and rail suspension bridge on the way to the city center. Once in downtown, he will be overwhelmed by the ubiquitous sky-scrappers, the meandering flyovers and the ultra-efficient subway system. For him and for those who would like to understand more about Hong Kong’s world-class infrastructure development, I am pleased to introduce the “Building A Dynamic Hong Kong” photo exhibition to be opened here this evening.

This exhibition features some of Hong Kong’s major infrastructural achievements since it became a Special Administrative Region in 1997 and some of our planned projects in the coming decade. The magnificent projects showcased in this exhibition are some of the most outstanding examples of our resolve and commitment to overcome Hong Kong’s physical constraint and tremendous population pressure. Hong Kong people are proud of these achievements not only because they have won wide international acclaims but also because they have brought real benefits to our economy and livelihood.

A lot of Canadians who have seen these exhibits have asked me how Hong Kong could develop such an excellent infrastructure network so efficiently. Hong Kong is known for its vision, its efficiency and its innovation. Yet these are not enough. We need the world’s best talents and technologies to help us build Hong Kong into a world-class city. Companies from all over the world have participated in Hong Kong’s major infrastructure projects. They have contributed to Hong Kong’s success. And, in return, Hong Kong has enabled them to be more successful. As this exhibition shows, with the massive infrastructural projects planned for Hong Kong in the next decade or so, we believe this will mean tremendous business opportunities for Canadian companies, especially those in engineering, architectural, construction and landscaping sectors.

All in all, I hope the various exhibits and activities will help strengthen the economic, social and cultural links between Calgary and Hong Kong. I hope you’ll have an enjoyable evening, and wish all of you a healthy and prosperous Year of the Ram.

Thank you.