The Secretary for Development, Mrs Carrie Lam, will pay an official visit to the United Kingdom from May 11-14 to learn about heritage conservation and urban regeneration work in the country.
Accompanied by the Commissioner for Heritage, Mr Jack Chan, and the Executive Secretary of the Antiquities and Monuments Office, Mr Tom Ming, Mrs Lam will visit Tate Modern in London and the Oxford Castle in Oxford to see how these historic buildings and places are preserved and revitalised. They will also visit St Martin-in-the-Fields at Trafalgar Square, which has recently undergone a major restoration and renovation programme funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund.
They will have meetings with key British institutions involved in heritage conservation work, namely the English Heritage, the National Trust and the Heritage Lottery Fund.
To learn about how old areas in certain parts of London have been regenerated and revitalized, Mrs Lam will meet with the Covent Garden Area Trust and officials from the Southwark Council.
Mrs Lam will also take the opportunity to update Members of the UK Parliament, the Hong Kong Association, the Institution of Civil Engineers, London-based Chinese media, and Hong Kong students studying in the UK on Hong Kong's latest developments, particularly on the Chief Executive's major infrastructural plans.
Arranged by the Heung Yee Kuk, Mrs Lam will also attend a dinner hosted by clansman associations and leading Chinese businessmen who have settled in the UK. She will take the opportunity to brief them on some latest developments in the New Territories, including the proposal for New Development Areas and the opening up of the frontier closed areas.
During her visit, Mrs Lam will also make a courtesy call on the Chinese Ambassador to the UK, Madam Fu Ying.
Mrs Lam will return to Hong Kong in the evening of May 15 (Thursday).
Ends/Friday, May 9, 2008