Your article 'We were left out of policy chat, chambers say' (September 3) wrongly states that the American and Japanese chambers of commerce in Hong Kong were excluded from a recent meeting with the chief executive seeking international business community input on his upcoming policy address.
The chief executive started a series of 32 consultation meetings on his policy address on August 7 to gauge widely community views. On August 14, the Chief Executive's Office invited both the American Chamber of Commerce and the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry to attend the August 30 session. Both chambers replied by fax that they could not make the meeting.
The chief executive has for many years maintained a strong and amicable relationship with the international business community. This has not changed. Apart from annual consultations on the policy address, the government maintains close links with international chambers through a variety of means, including the top-level International Business Committee, chaired by the chief secretary for administration.
Contrary to suggestions in your report, the government treasures the views of the international business community. Sadly, none of this was reflected in the article, which was based on a misleading assumption and wrong information.
ANDY HO, information co-ordinator, the Chief Executive's Office
AmCham was invited
