Chief Secretary for Administration Donald Tsang will fly to Sweden tonight, kicking off a seven-day trip to promote Hong Kong's role as an international business and financial hub and the premium platform for accessing the Mainland market.

He will visit Sweden and Russia at the invitation of those countries' governments.

Mr Tsang will address a promotional business lunch in Stockholm tomorrow before meeting King Carl XVI Gustav in the afternoon. He will also speak to the Swedish Institute of International Affairs.

On Friday, Mr Tsang will have meetings with top Swedish representatives including Stockholm Mayor Annika Billstrom and Foreign Minister Laila Freivalds.

Stockholm to hold HK Film Festival

He will open the Hong Kong Film Festival in the evening, featuring 2003 award-winner Cecilia Cheung in the romance Lost in Time, which is part of a Hong Kong Film Panorama that was launched in Germany in March.

Mr Tsang will leave Stockholm on Saturday afternoon and fly to Moscow, where he will launch the new Brand Hong Kong video Asia's World City on Monday and deliver a keynote address at a business luncheon organised by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council and the Russian-Hong Kong Business Association.

Later that day and on Tuesday he will meet senior officials and update them on Hong Kong's business opportunities and developments.

The officials include Russian Federation Chamber of Commerce President and former Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey V Lavrov. 

Mr Tsang will return to Hong Kong on May 19 in the evening.