Go West: Secretary for Commerce & Economic Development Rita Lau (2nd left) visits Le Fresnoy Studio National des Arts Contemporains.

The Secretary for Commerce & Economic Development Rita Lau ended her visit to France today and will return tomorrow.

During her four-day stay in Paris and Lille, Mrs Lau visited the transport infrastructure supplier Alstom and automaker Renault, to hear about their experience in re-branding their products by raising the level of cooperation between their product design and technical research teams,and their strategy to bring in and groom designers from different cultural backgrounds.

While in Lille, a senior representative of the metropolitan government briefed her on how the city had been transformed from a traditional heavy-industry city into a creative regional metropolitan centre.

She also visited Le Fresnoy Studio National des Arts Comtemporains, digital media creation entity Supinfocom and sports-equipment producer Decathlon.

She took the opportunity to visit the architects Coldefy & Associes Architectes Urbanistes, the architects of the Institute of Design now being built in Tseung Kwan O.

Mrs Lau also met the Minister for the Economy, Industry & Employment Christine Lagarde, Minister of State responsible for foreign trade Anne-Marie Idrac, and the Chinese Ambassador to France, Kong Quan.