I am very pleased to present MTR's third Corporate Sustainability Report for 2003.

This report demonstrates the progress we have made with incorporating sustainability into our operations. This will become more challenging in the coming year as our international operations continue to grow and the proposed merger with the KCR Corporation proceeds. In addition to reporting our economic and environmental achievements, we have decided to expand our report to include our wider social responsibility. Our reporting follows the international best practice guidelines prepared by the Global Reporting Initiative. Again this year, MTR is fully compliant with all of Hong Kong environmental legislation receiving no prosecutions or fines.

Despite a trying year in 2003, we have maintained our membership of the Dow Jones Sustainability Index and the FTSE4Good Global Index, and expanded our participation in the World Economic Forum Corporate Citizenship Initiative through our involvement with the Global Reporting Initiative. We have also expanded our support for the Union of International Transport Providers' Charter for Sustainable Development.

In this report we are presenting the results of several new initiatives including sustainability accounting and an inventory of our green house gas emissions. We are also reporting on the first steps of a three-year programme to provide full assurance of our sustainability reports.

These are exciting times for MTR Corporation and our sustainability efforts are critical to ensuring long-term shareholder value. I look forward to receiving any comments you may have on the report.