Top draw: "The Gateway to a Wealth of Opportunities" will be the theme of ITU Telecom World 2006.

The International Telecommunications Union Telecom World 2006 will attract 100,000 visitors, earning Hong Kong $1.2 billion, the Commerce, Industry & Technology Bureau says.

To promote the event in December next year, the bureau and the Information Services Department held a reception in Chicago on June 6. More than 100 business leaders and professionals from the information and communications technology industry attended.

The union set up an exhibition booth at the SuperComm 2005, the world's premier annual exhibition and conference on communications and information technology held in Chicago between June 6 and 9, to promote Telecom World.

Opportunity gateway

Deputy Secretary for Commerce, Industry & Technology Marion Lai met major company executives and trade associations to brief them on the theme of Telecom World 2006 - the Gateway to a Wealth of Opportunities, and invite them to Hong Kong to partake in the event.

It will be staged in Hong Kong from December 4 to 8, 2006, the first time the event will be held outside Geneva, where the union is based.

Telecom World is the most prominent global telecommunications event held every three to four years. Hong Kong has hosted two union events - Telecom Asia 2000 and Telecom Asia 2002.