Pres favours direct contacts between Russian, Hong Kong residents.

.

31/8 Tass 371

MOSCOW, August 31 (Itar-Tass) - President Dmitry Medvedev voiced
support for developing direct relations between Russian and Hong Kong
residents. He was echoed by Donald Tsang, administration head of the
Special Administrative Region of China.
Receiving the Hong Kong guest in the Kremlin, Medvedev expressed
interest in Tsang's direct flight to Moscow, noting that that was the
first direct flight by the Hong Kong air company, connecting that region
of China with Moscow. "This is very important, since this is the way
direct contacts are established," Medvedev emphasised.
"I hope that your meeting here in Moscow, including with members of
the business community, will be useful," he added.
Tsang thanked Medvedev for a chance to use the first flight between
Hong Kong and Moscow. "I can recommend all Russian people to travel by
this flight," he said.
Tsang also noted that Hong Kong and Russia dumped quite recently visa
limitations. According to the Hong Kong administration head, the flow of
bilateral exchanges jumped up by 100 percent over one year since that
time. "I'm sure that this trend will continue and greater numbers of
businessmen and investors will come to Russia thanks to this," Tsang noted.
The administration head reported that along with him, Russia is
visited by 30 businessmen, engaged in most diverse economic spheres. "They
want to establish commercial contacts with Russia, and I hope that we
shall open doors to each other," he added.
Medvedev suggested Tsang discussing development of bilateral
cooperation as well as continuing consultations on key international
problems, about which the two leaders already had a chance to talk at
meetings on the sidelines of major international forums, including APEC
summits in Peru and Singapore.
-0-bur/usn