*  *  *  The Honourable Secretary for Economy and Finance, Mr. Tam Pak Yuen, The Honourable Deputy Director General, Economic Affairs Department of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the MSAR, Mr. Kou Ming, The Honourable Deputy Director-General of the Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the MSAR, Ms. Ji Ziyuan, Dear Guests, Practitioners of the Financial Sector, Friends of the Media, Colleagues, “The Dragon goes back to the sea and bids farewell to the old calendar.
We need to deal with the very serious consequences of negative demographic developments, of technological shortfalls and the requirements to flexibly adjust markets  2  BIS Review 47/2003  to the demands of the new international environment. We need good structural policies to restore confidence in the future.