ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT VISITS SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGIONS OF MACAU AND HONG KONG DURING OFFICIAL VISIT TO CHINA

Press Release
GA/SM/167

ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT VISITS SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGIONS OF MACAU AND HONG KONG DURING OFFICIAL VISIT TO CHINA

During his five-day official visit to the People’s Republic of China, the President of the General Assembly, Theo-Ben Gurirab, also visited the Special Administrative Regions of Macau and Hong Kong.

In Macau, the President met with Chief Executive Edmund Ho Hau Wah and with Yuan Tao, Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China. In Hong Kong, he held talks with the Chief Secretary for Administration, Anson Chan, and with Deputy Commissioner Tang Guoqiang of the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

The Assembly President arrived in Hong Kong on Saturday, 27 May, and travelled by ferry to Macau. In talks with Chief Executive Ho, the President commended him for the changes he had witnessed since his last visit in 1997. He expressed regret for not having been present at Macau’s hand-over last December, due to the work of the General Assembly which had detained him in New York. In addition to the hand-over, they discussed the upcoming Special Sessions of the General Assembly on Women and Social Development and the Millennium Summit, China’s role in the Security Council, its impending World Trade Organization (WTO) membership, upheavals in Africa, as well as bilateral relations between China and Namibia and expanding those ties to Macau. The President received a photographic book of Macau, and attended a dinner in his honour, hosted by Florinda Chan, Secretary for Administration and Justice.

Earlier, the President met with Commissioner Yuan, whose office represents the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China in Macau. He told the President that in the five months since the hand-over of Macau, public security had improved, as had the economy and living standards. It was a good beginning in fulfilling the wishes of the Chinese President Jiang Zemin that the future of Macau would be better. He said that both as Namibia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Information and Broadcasting and as General Assembly President, Mr. Gurirab had made a great contribution to further enhancing the status of the third world and of developing countries. He hoped to see him at the upcoming Sino-African Forum in China in October, aimed at further consolidating relations between the two sides. He hoped the Forum would strengthen the role of developing countries in international affairs and safeguard international peace, security and development.

The President spoke of China’s assistance to Namibia’s liberation leaders, dating back to the 1960s, and of China’s unwavering support for the Namibian cause in the Security Council, and in the United Nations Council for Namibia, after regaining its seat at the United Nations in 1972. He said that cooperation

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continued up to today where, as a non-permanent member of the Council, Namibia and China were working closely, including in the area of United Nations reform. He said he would attend the Forum, and was sure it would result in major steps not only to consolidate cooperation, but also to explore how countries of the South could respond together to international issues, in the spirit of the recent South Summit convened by the “Group of 77” developing countries and China in Havana, Cuba.

Returning to Hong Kong on 30 May, the Assembly President held talks the following morning with the Chief Secretary for Administration, Anson Chan, and with Deputy Commissioner Tang Guoqiang of the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

He told Mrs. Chan that he welcomed the high level and active involvement of residents in the preparations for and participation in, as members of the Chinese delegation, the Special Sessions on Beijing +5 and Copenhagen +5 in June.

The President shared with Deputy Commissioner Tang information concerning his discussions with Chinese leaders in Beijing and affirmed his intention to visit Hong Kong again in the near future.

The President was the guest of honour at a luncheon hosted by Henry Chan, Honorary Consul of Namibia in Hong Kong.

The Assembly President departed Hong Kong for New York on Wednesday, 31 May.

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