A Breakfast Briefing

8:30 a.m. - 9:30 a.m.
Briefing

Plimsoll Club, World Trade Center
2 Canal Street, New Orleans
(Free validated parking in the WTC Garage)

Topics of Discussion

• Hong Kong in the context of the Asian economic recovery
• Using Hong Kong as an entry point to China and Southeast Asia
• Best prospects for trade and investment in Hong Kong

About Raymond Fan

Raymond Fan took up his post as Director of the Hong Kong Economic & Trade Office in New York in September 1998. As a senior representative of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, he is responsible for leading the development and expansion of Hong Kong’s economic and business partnerships throughout the eastern United States.

Born and raised in Hong Kong, Mr. Fan attended secondary school and university in England. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Medical Biochemistry and a Master’s degree in Environmental Management. When he joined the Administrative Service of the Hong Kong Government in 1985, his first posting was to coordinate the infrastructural development projects for a new town, which today supports a population of half a million people.

In 1987, Mr. Fan was transferred to the Civil Service Branch’s Staff Relations Division to liaise and negotiate with over 160 civil service unions. In 1990, he was appointed Deputy Director of the Hong Kong Economic & Trade Office in New York. He returned to Hong Kong in early-1994 to take up the labor portfolio in the Education and Manpower Branch, which dealt with policies and legislation affecting the 3 million workers in Hong Kong. In January 1997, he was transferred to the Security Branch to work on complex immigration and nationality issues connected with the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in July of that year.

Trade with Louisiana

In 1998, Louisiana’s exports to Hong Kong totaled $249 million (a 14% increase over the prior year), of which $186 million was food and agricultural commodities, $44 million was chemicals and allied products, $6 million was industrial machinery and computer equipment, $4 million was electrical equipment, and $2 million was paper products. Trade with Hong Kong through the Port of New Orleans totaled $588 million in 1997 (the most recent year’s figures), with $25 million of U.S. exports to Hong Kong moving through the Port ($12 million of soybeans, $4 million of kraft paper, and $2 million of corn oil), while $539 million of U.S. imports from Hong Kong transited the Port ($259 million of wood and resin-based chemical products, $122 million of mechanical shovels and excavators, and $46 million of imitation jewelry).

For useful background information on Hong Kong, visit the website for the Hong Kong Economic & Trade Office at www.hongkong.org/home.html

Sponsoring Organizations

Louisiana Department of Economic Development

World Trade Center of New Orleans

In Cooperation With