Premier Wen Jiabao hopes Hong Kong people will cherish their hard-won position as masters of their own affairs, work for social stability and seize precious development opportunities.

"The fundamental interests and well-being of all Hong Kong people lie in the long-term prosperity, stability and development of Hong Kong,"  he said at the sixth anniversary of the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region today.

Sixth celebration: Premier Wen Jiabao, accompanied by Chief Executive Tung Chee Hwa, witnesses the flag raising ceremony on the sixth anniversary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

He hoped Hong Kong people will, with great love for their motherland and for Hong Kong, join hands and work together for a fresh start and a brighter future.

Hong Kong will have a better tomorrow, he said, because its Government and people are brave enough to forge ahead, despite difficulties, and never surrender to adversity.

In the past six years, he said the Hong Kong Government has accumulated valuable experience in administration,  wisdom and capability to get it on top of complicated situations.

"The people in Hong Kong, with their wisdom and expertise as well as their hard-working and enterprising spirit, are the driving force of Hong Kong's long-term prosperity," he said.

"Hong Kong's future will be shaped by the people of Hong Kong. What is most needed now is understanding, trust and unity, as much as confidence, courage and action."

Hong Kong will have a better tomorrow also because it can always count upon the strong backing of the motherland.

"Hong Kong's destiny has always been closely linked with that of the motherland," he said.

The Mainland has entered a new development phase, building an all-round well-off society, accelerating the socialist modernisation drive, pressing ahead with reform and opening-up. China has maintained sustained and rapid economic growth and social stability.

"All this will provide Hong Kong with more opportunities and a broader platform for development," he said.

The Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement is a significant step taken by the Central Government to support Hong Kong's development. It is a vivid example of the implementation of the One Country, Two Systems principle.

The Central Government will continue to give its full support to everything conducive to the prosperity and stability of Hong Kong and to the common development of Hong Kong and the Mainland, Premier Wen said.

The Chief Executive Tung Chee Hwa also re-affirmed the close relationship and inter-dependence between Hong Kong and its motherland.

"Hong Kong has adopted a clear position, direction and vision in economic restructuring: a highly developed knowledge-based society with China as its hinterland and a global outlook."

Hong Kong is striving to reinforce and upgrade its position as a leading international financial and logistics centre, a preferred tourist destination and a trade-related services hub in the region. 

"This is our medium-to-long term goal," Mr Tung said. 

"To achieve it we must further enhance local value-added services; develop innovation, brands and high-tech manufacturing industries to best shape our territory of some 1,100 square kilometres."

CEPA provides Hong Kong with a solid platform to embark in this direction. Hong Kong will foster closer economic ties with the Mainland, in particular the Pearl River Delta region, and strengthen its existing excellent global business network.

"We will continue to be a link between the Mainland and the rest of the world, making Hong Kong the first among Chinese economies to reach developed status," Mr Tung said.

"With these in place, Hong Kong can tap from and contribute to our motherland's evolution towards a well-off society." 

As the Mainland advances socially and economically, Hong Kong will remain the most promising metropolis in China, a community enjoying a high degree of autonomy, democracy and freedom.

Please click here to view the flag raising ceremony before the reception.