(March 13, 2007)

Respected Mr. Kenny Tang

Chief Executive Officer of Dragonair

Distinguished Guests

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good Evening.

It is indeed my great pleasure to attend the wonderful Spring Dinner hosted by Dragonair this evening. Still immersed in the profound joy of the traditional Chinese Spring Festival which passed just a couple of days ago, I would like to, on behalf of my colleagues of the Chinese Embassy, extend my sincere best wishes to all the guests present here and congratulations on the inauguration of the new joint Dragonair/Cathay reservation and ticketing counter.

It is known to all that China and Bangladesh are close neighbors enjoying traditional friendship dating back to ancient times. It is as early as over 1000 years ago that the great heralds started the history of Sino-Bangladesh friendly exchange and communication by trekking steep mountains and turbulent rivers. Since the diplomatic relations between China and Bangladesh was established in 1975, we have witnessed the continual consolidation and expansion of bilateral exchange and cooperation in all areas. I would like to mention that Dragonair is one of the pioneers as well as the contributors to the friendly exchange between our two countries. In 1989, Dragonair, with acute knowledge of tremendous local business potential, embarked upon Bangladesh and operated its aviation service, which substantially facilitated the traveling between the two peoples. During the following years Dragonair made the steady growth of Dhaka-Hongkong airlink in terms of aircrafts types, service scope and frequency and increasing reputation among the passengers for its world-class aviation security and service. It is delighted to notice that the recent integration of Dragonair into Cathay Pacific Airway, one of the leading intercontinental brand, and appointment of Global Aviation Service Ltd. as the joint GSA for Dragonair and Cathay Pacific is a win-win deal since each side could make the best utilization of the other side's advantages and make the Bangladeshi travelers enjoy hassle-free connecting service to over 100 beyond Hongkong destinations.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

During recent years, China and Bangladesh have been enjoying much closer business cooperation and personnel exchange. In 2006 the total bilateral trade volume surpassed 3 billion USD and over 30,000 Bangladeshi citizens flew to Chinese mainland and Hongkong SAR. Facts and figures prove that Bangladesh has now become one of the main resources of air-borne passengers and freights in the region of South Asia. As the winner of the Best Airline-China category for five consecutive years in the respected Skytrax passenger survey, and the Best China Airline category two years in a row in the Business Traveller Asia-Pacific Annual Travel Awards, Dragon Air, now the fully owned subsidiary of Cathay Pacific, will continue to make the best use of its recognized professionalism and relentless efforts to explore the tremendous local market and overcome the short-term difficulty and make better performance in the future.

Before ending my speech, I would like to wish a very successful and prosperous new year for Dragonair and Cathay Pacific Airways and also wish all the friends present here good health and every success in the days to come.

Thank you all.