The information on this site is subject to a disclaimer and a copyright notice . Mr Chairman, ladies and gentlemen. It is a great pleasure for me to be back in Hong Kong, in my first visit since becoming EU Trade Commissioner in 1999. But I have not been back since the handover in July 1997, and it is great to see just how well Hong Kong is doing. As you know my job in the Commission is trade - pretty much like everyone else in this city.
Most people profess to be generally in favour of an open trading system.
Moreover, you know that it is trading with everyone that counts. I had an excellent meeting this morning with my counterpart, Secretary Brian Chau, and we had so much to talk about we are going to meet again for dinner tonight. Our trade relations are excellent both in quality and quantity. For years we have not had any major bilateral trade problems and we share many positions on the multilateral front, including the urgent need to launch a new Round as soon as possible. I have been asked today to focus my speech on WTO issues.