Secretary for Financial Services & the Treasury Professor KC Chan will fly to the US May 11 to promote Hong Kong's status as an international financial centre.

He will meet senior government officials and corporate leaders of mercantile and stock exchanges, investment banks and credit rating agencies in New York, Washington DC and San Francisco.

On May 12 he will visit the New York Mercantile Exchange and meet senior executives, and attend a luncheon hosted by the New York Stock Exchange. In the afternoon he will deliver a keynote speech at a seminar hosted by HSBC USA, the Hong Kong Economic & Trade Office in New York and the Hong Kong Association of New York.

In Washington DC on May 13 Prof Chan will call on Federal Reserve System Board of Governors Chairman Ben Bernanke and Securities & Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox. He will call on Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs David McCormick the next day.

Before leaving for San Francisco, Prof Chan will address a luncheon organised by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

On May 15 Prof Chan will speak on globalisation through Hong Kong's capital markets at the Hong Kong Financial Summit jointly hosted by the Hong Kong Economic & Trade Office in San Francisco and HKEx. In the afternoon Prof Chan will visit Stanford University and talk to faculty members and students.

Before returning to Hong Kong May 17 Prof Chan will attend a reception hosted by the Hong Kong Economic & Trade Office in San Francisco and the Hong Kong Association of Northern California.