Jacques Chirac will visit Hong Kong next month, marking the first official visit to the special administrative region by an incumbent French president. He will spend several hours in the city after a state visit to the mainland, where he will meet the central government's leadership. Mr Chirac has been to Hong Kong many times in a private capacity and is expected to meet Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa as part of his official programme, French consulate spokesman Francois Fenster-Bank said. The French president is due to arrive in Beijing on October 9 and come to Hong Kong on his way home. His three-day trip to the mainland, which follows an Asia-European co-operation meeting in Vietnam, is part of a two-year programme of cultural exchanges that began last year with a 'Year of China in France' celebration and continues this year with a 'Year of France in China'. Mr Chirac will hold talks on investment while in the mainland.
