To further enhance cultural ties between the east and the west, the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, San Francisco (SFETO) sponsored and participated in the San Francisco International Dragon Boat Festival.

Speaking at the festival’s opening ceremony, Mr. Jeff Leung, Director of the SFETO said “Like here in San Francisco, the traditional dragon boat races in Hong Kong attract huge crowds. In fact, many world-class international sports events have been held in Hong Kong. Every year, we host the Hong Kong Sevens international rugby tournament, International Tennis Champions Challenge and Hong Kong Open, just to name a few.”

“This December, Hong Kong will host the East Asian Games with 2300 elite athletes from nine East Asian
countries/regions competing for more than 250 gold medals in 22 sports. Both the number of sports and medals are the largest in the history of the East Asian Games.”

The two-day festival in Treasure Island, California in October 2009, attracted thousands of visitors. The “Hong Kong booth” run by SFETO was a crowd pleaser. Not only were the participants interested in the games created to highlight the unique strengths of Hong Kong, they also took the opportunity to find out the latest developments of Hong Kong, and what it would be like to work, live or play in Hong Kong.