By coincidence, this year is also the 10th anniversary of Hong Kong's handover to China. It is my great honor to visit Hong Kong again today, and hold our 50th anniversary reception, celebrating Hong Kong's closer economic ties with the mainland and its prosperity as an international financial centre.
In the future, we will also see the accession of a number of new Member States to the European Union and eventually to the euro area. It is clear that the envisaged extension of the EU to include new members and, ultimately, the enlargement of the euro area represent important challenges both for Member States and for the Eurosystem.