Hong Kong, as Asia's World City and the gateway to China, has done a lot to enhance our physical connectivity with the Mainland by putting in place world-class infrastructure to facilitate efficient flow of goods and people, and cross-boundary communications. We are determined to facilitate business between the Mainland and Hong Kong.

The theme of this year's Hong Kong International Computer Conference (HKICC), "Value Creation in an Information-Based Economy", goes hand in hand with the HKSAR Government's aspiration to strengthen Hong Kong's position as a provider of world-class service. To achieve this objective, we would need to capitalize on our human resources and promote the best use of information technology to enhance efficiency and productivity in business, at work and in our daily lives. The HKICC 2005, organized by the Hong Kong Computer Society, will be a good forum for IT and business leaders from Hong Kong, Mainland China and other parts of the world to discuss the latest IT innovations and developments and business opportunities in the Pearl River Delta. I wish all the participants of the HKICC 2005 a very fruitful and rewarding meeting.