World Trade Center PB Says Unrest In Hong Kong Won't Deter Tonight's Seminar On Benefits Of Doing Business There BOCA RATON, Fla., November 10, 2003 -- Don't expect police dogs and fire hoses at tonight's seminar on Hong Kong at Boca Country Club. Despite growing unrest in Hong Kong, "our event tonight on the benefits of doing business in Hong Kong will be peaceful as can be," said Al Zucaro, president of World Trade Center Palm Beach, which is co-sponsoring the event with Enterprise Florida, The Hong Kong Trade Development Council, and Palm Beach County Business Development Board. Zucaro was allaying concerns over two weeks of strident pro-democracy protests there, which have led to the resignation of top government officials. "This unrest is more political than economic, Zucaro said and won't change the fact that Hong Kong is a great overseas market that South Florida companies need to understand and to reckon with," he said. Hong Kong's cutting edge advantage can be found in its location at the doorstep of Southern China's Pearl River Delta, a region of global economic importance both as a production basin and as an emerging market. Two weeks of strident pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong also has caused the territory's chief executive to announce he would fly to Beijing for consultations. The two officials who resigned were seen to have particularly close ties to the Chinese government and their resignation was seen as a publicly humiliating turn of events for Beijing. The action came as Beijing continued to toughen its stance against the Hong Kong protests, which were spurred in part by a tough internal security bill that would have sharply restricted freedoms in the former British colony. World Trade Center Palm Beach's mission is twofold: (1) getting regional businesses to "think globally" by helping them to see and take advantage of trade and commerce opportunities abroad, and (2) promoting Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast worldwide as a fertile destination for international trade, commerce, exhibition and travel initiatives. # # # CONTACT: Michelle Rosen, +1-561-750-9800, ext. 14, or MRosen@transmediagroup.com