Following is the speech by the Chief Executive, Mr Donald Tsang, at the luncheon hosted by the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Berlin, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council and the Swiss-Hong Kong Business Association, in Zurich, Switzerland, today (January 27, Zurich time):
Dr Moser (Kurt Moser – President of the Swiss-Hong Kong Business Association), Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, I’m very grateful for the introduction of Dr Moser. He described me as a friend of Switzerland. I now take this opportunity to tell you honestly that Switzerland has always been the role model as I govern Hong Kong.
We have similar size in terms of population of about 7 million. Your per capita GDP is twice of ours. You concentrate on services in excellence and we try to do the same.
You have a rich culture of serenity, democracy, openness. This is something we want to imitate as well. And I continue to admire your achievement over the years despite ups and downs in global performance whether it’s economic side or during war times.
This is something which many people tend to overlook. This is a great place on earth and you have lots of admirers particularly from the East involving myself. To me it is a great pleasure to be back in Switzerland although I travelled here quite frequently in my previous incarnations.
Now with my new job as the Chief Executive, I’m supposed to look after the house, so I’m very much bound in Hong Kong and I traveled less, but my heart is with you. I admire your achievements particularly how you handled various crises, particularly the free spirits of the people whom we try to imitate in Hong Kong. I wish particularly to take this opportunity to thank the Swiss-Hong Kong Business Association for its work in promoting strong links between our two economies, and of course the Hong Kong Trade Development Council for its sterling work in promoting our manufacturing and services sectors abroad.
Some of you may know that we have just a few days ago celebrated Chinese New Year.
This year heralds the return of the most noble and auspicious of the celestial creatures, that is, the dragon. The dragon, unlike the western dragon, is considered a symbol of strength, a symbol of imperialism and a symbol of great power. It will be the Year of the Water Dragon.
We have Fire Dragon, the Water Dragon but this one is the Water Dragon.
Water has a calming effect on the dragon’s fearless temperament and fiery spirit. Those born in the Year of the Water Dragon are said to be better equipped to take a step back, re-evaluate a situation and understand the art of patience. Given the state of the global economy at the moment, it sounds like we need a few Water Dragons to help chart a smooth course through this extremely uncertain period in the fiscal and monetary worlds.
We are just four days away from the end of January and it is hard to know where the first month of the year has gone.
I am just on my way to take part in the annual pilgrimage to Davos for the World Economic Forum meetings, but one thing is already obvious we are going to need all of the Water Dragon’s patience, courage and resilience if Europe is to survive in its current shape and form, and for the US to return to a more robust and sustainable growth trajectory. I am sure it is going to be an extremely busy year for governments on both sides of the Atlantic.
Those of you who have been to Hong Kong will know that life in our neck of the woods is also often busy, some might even say frantic at times. We are fully plugged into the world economy, so we are watching the developments in Europe and the States with great interest and anticipation.
At the same time, we are not the kind of people or economy to stand around and wait for the things to get better, we have survived and prospered over the past 50 to 60 years because we are restless for progress in good times and bad.
That drive to succeed has taken on a new dimension since Hong Kong’s return to our Motherland in 1997.