SITB on duty visit to Europe

March 10, 2002

Secretary for Information Technology and Broadcasting, Mrs Carrie Yau, will visit Germany, France and the United Kingdom between March 11 and 20 to promote the IT and telecommunications development and business opportunities in Hong Kong, as well as to strengthen networking and collaboration with the three countries.

Mrs Yau will first lead a high-level delegation of senior executives from Hong Kong IT and telecommunications companies to Berlin where she will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on co-operation in information and communications technology with the German Minister of Economics and Technology, Mr Werner Muller. The MOU will cover a wide range of areas for co-operation in information and communications infrastructure, electronic and mobile commerce, e-government initiative, multi-media applications and products, etc.

Mrs Yau will also hold a bilateral meeting with the Parliamentary State Secretary of the Ministry, Mrs Margareta Wolf.

Afterwards, the delegation will attend CeBIT, the world's leading exhibition for office automation, information technology and telecommunications, in Hannover. The delegation will meet with top executives from world's renowned IT and telecommunications companies. As the largest IT fair in the world, CeBIT attracted over 8,000 exhibitors and 850,000 visitors last year. This year, over 70 companies from Hong Kong will take part in the exhibition. The Hong Kong Government will also have a booth featuring E-government and the Cyberport.

Members of the Hong Kong delegation include Mr Linus Cheung and Mr Nick Colfer of Pacific Century CyberWorks; Mr Tony Hau and Mr Pan Rubo of China Motion Telecom International Ltd.; Mr C S Ng of Computer & Technology Holdings Ltd.; Mr Hubert Ng of Hong Kong CSL Ltd.; Mr Peter Wong of Hutchison Global Crossing Ltd.; and Mr Ricky Wong of Hong Kong Broadband Network.

After visiting Germany, Mrs Yau will go to Paris to sign an MOU on co-operation in information and communications technology with France. On the French side, the MOU will be signed by Mr Christian Pierret, the French Minister for Industry, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, Trade and Craft Industries and Consumer Affairs. Mrs Yau will also visit Sofia-Antipolis in Nice, the largest and one of the most renowned IT science parks in Europe. She will explore networking and collaboration opportunities between the Cyberport and Sofia-Antipolis.

From Paris, Mrs Yau will travel to London to meet with officials of the UK Government, and senior executives of various organisations and bodies to exchanges views on the latest development in e-business, E-government, and broadcasting.

While in London, Mrs Yau will meet with Hong Kong students studying IT-related disciplines in UK universities. She will encourage them to return to work in Hong Kong after graduation.

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