The Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (HKETO) held a reception at the Albert Hall in Brussels on Monday 26 January 2009.  Co-hosts were the Belgium-Hong Kong Society and the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, Amsterdam.

This is the first of 11 events the HKETO will be hosting in major cities around Europe in January and February  to celebrate the start of the Year of the Ox.

Addressing some 450 guests from the political, economic and academic sectors as well as media representatives in Brussels, Hong Kong's Special Representative for Economic and Trade Affairs to the European Communities, Miss Mary Chow, said that in the year ahead, the HKSAR Government would continue to focus all its efforts on maintaining financial stability and reinforcing Hong  Kong's reputation as a great place to do business in Asia.

Miss Chow noted that steps taken since the Asian financial crisis a few years ago, to shore up Hong Kong's financial markets through a more effective and transparent regulatory system and to improve the risk management of our banks, had helped to provide a solid basis to weather the current downturn.

She said the HKSAR Government had acted quickly to lessen the impact of the global financial crisis.  These included, inter alia, measures to help create more than 60,000 job opportunities this year, and the creation of a Contingent Bank Capital Facility to make available additional capital to banks should they require it.

All these measures would help regain confidence and restore the vigour of the Hong Kong economy once their effects would have filetered through, she added.

Belgium's Minister for Enterprise and Streamlining, Mr Vincent Van Quickenborne, was the guest of honour at the event.  In his speech, he said that he had visited Hong Kong five times and it was a fascinating, cosmopolitan place to live and work.

Referring to Hong Kong's ranking as the World's Freest Economy by the Heritage Foundation, Mr Van Quickenborne, whose portfolio includes making the Belgian administration more efficient and cutting red tape for citizens and for business, said, "You are number one when it comes to open economy, and in many other areas Hong Kong is the reference.  Nowhere is the administration so efficient as in Hong Kong."

Musical entertainment at the event was provided by Hong Kong pianist Ms Colleen Lee, a rising star on the international concert circuit, who gave a much-applauded recital before the reception.