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| No.6 September, 2009 |
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Inaugural HK Week to promote Hong Kong in New Zealand |
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 Film, fine food and wine, tourism and investment took centre stage at Auckland's inaugural Hong Kong Week to showcase the unique cosmopolitan culture of Asia's leading international city.
The event, sponsored by the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, Sydney (HKETO), featured a programme highlighting Hong Kong's vibrant creativity including a Food and Wine Appreciation banquet, a Hong Kong Film Festival, a film seminar and an exhibition on tourism and investment. |
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Speaking at the opening ceremony (September 15), HKETO Director, Ms Lorna Wong, said, "It is fitting that the HK Week begins with a Hong Kong Food and New Zealand Wine Banquet to celebrate how New Zealand wines could be a perfect match for Chinese food and, more importantly, to celebrate Hong Kong's latest role as the first free wine port among major economies."
She said that since the abolition of wine duty last year, Hong Kong had become one of the world's fastest growing markets for wine with imports in 2008 growing to HK$2.9 billion (NZ$555 million), or an increase of about 80% compared with 2007.
More significantly, Hong Kong provided easy access to the Mainland market where the potential for growth in wine consumption was enormous, Ms Wong said.
"Hong Kong is gaining in popularity among wine auction houses and industry players believe that Hong Kong might overtake London this year to become the world's second largest wine auction centre, after New York."
Ms Wong said discussions were under way to explore greater co-operation between Hong Kong and New Zealand on opportunities in the wine industry.
At present, New Zealand is Hong Kong's 10th largest supplier of wine by value and fourth largest source of white wine by volume. Wine imports from New Zealand amounted to HK$39 million (about NZ$7.5 million) in 2008, representing a year-on-year increase of 35.6% by value.
At the opening ceremony (September 16) of the inaugural Hong Kong Film Festival which showcased five leading productions from Hong Kong, Ms Wong said, "The creativity and diversity of Hong Kong films are evident in the strong line-up of five movies in this festival.”
The opening film "The Way We Are", the latest work of renowned director Ann Hui, reaped four awards - Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress - in the 2009 Hong Kong Film Awards.
Also included in the festival's screenings are Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon, an epic masterpiece; True Women for Sale, a social drama; Protege, a crime movie and Beast Stalker, a kidnap thriller.
"All these award-winning films are compelling examples of contemporary film making in Hong Kong. Through them, Auckland audiences will come to enjoy and appreciate the diversity and creativity of Hong Kong films," she said.
"As Asia's world city, Hong Kong positions itself not only as a financial centre but also a creative hub."
"Hong Kong attaches great importance to the creative industries. Apart from setting up a dedicated office to oversee the development of the various sectors of the industry, special efforts are being made to nurture our 'cultural software'."
"In the coming month, an unprecedented 'Creative October' will be launched in Hong Kong offering more than 200 events to showcase Hong Kong's profile as a cultural and creative hub of Asia."
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