The Director of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) Government, Mr. Donald Tong, said on February 20 that 1998 will be another busy and exciting year for the territory.

Speaking in Edmonton at a Chinese New Year dinner organised by the Hong Kong-Canada Business Association (HKCBA), Mr. Tong said that the principles of "One Country, Two Systems" and "Hong Kong people running Hong Kong" have been implemented successfully.

Those attending the dinner included, Senator Thema Chalifoux, Mr. Julius Yankowsky, Member of Legislative Assembly for Edmonton, Mr. Terry Cavanagh, Councillor of City of Edmonton and President of HKCBA, Mr. Sam Yeung.

Mr. Tong announced that on May 24, the SAR's first Legislative Council elections will be held, and on July 6, Hong Kong's state-of-the-art airport at Chek Lap Kok will be operational, including the new airport railway.

"We will also continue our work on other important areas like reforming our banking and financial system, providing more housing units for Hong Kong people, undertaking new infrastructure projects amounting to C$43 billion in the next five years, increasing resources for the training of our students and developing high value-added industries." he said.

Mr. Tong reminded the guests that "business is as usual" in Hong Kong where the key ingredients of our success story remain firmly rooted, adding that "our economic fundamentals remain strong. The rule of law continues to prevail and is being upheld."

Since last October, Mr. Tong said, Hong Kong had been confronted with two major challenges, one was the financial turmoil in southeast Asia and the other was the spread of the avian flu.

"We have succeeded in bringing the bird flu under control and have also managed to thwart speculation on the Hong Kong dollar," he said.

He said: "The Hong Kong dollar's link with the US dollar will not change. Delinking will damage Hong Kong, and do further harm to the regional economy. The link has been the key factor for the stability of Hong Kong's currency since 1983, and coupled with our greatly improved market regulation and supervision, it has enabled us to become one of the world's leading financial centres.

Mr. Tong pointed out that Hong Kong is now the seventh largest trading entity in the world, and despite the financial turmoil, we are still expecting a 3.5 % real growth in 1998.

"With the reunification with China, Hong Kong is better placed than ever as a gateway to China," he said.

"I strongly urge you to take full advantage of Hong Kong's special position and visit Hong Kong to see for yourselves the business opportunities awaiting you there. We treasure your business and our doors are always open."