President Ian Irvin's speech at the formal signing of the 'Land Purchase Agreement' between Penghu County Government and Amazing Ltd. (2000/6/27)

When weidentified our chosen site at Fonghue, and as we secured the option agreement last May, we noticed that there were wild Scottish Thistle is a Scottish emblem that reflects the rugged and strong nature of the Scottish People. There are striking similarities between the west coast of Scotland and the Penghu Islands, except it is warm here, but in addition to the similarities in the people which means that we think like you, which is help even if we can not speak each other¡¦s language.

Also off the coast of Scotland lies another strong independent country that is called the Isle of Man and it is there that our company is based. The Isle of Man is an offshorre financial centre and tourist destination and I speak on behalf of colleagues here from the Isle of Man and extent their good wishes to you. As a matter of fact, the Isle of Man parliament has ben sitting continuously for over 1,000 years, and so from the oldest democracy in the word, to one of the youngest democracies in theworld we extend our very best wishes and we look forward to continuing to work closely wish you in the future.

Looking beyond the formal signing of this ¡¥Land Purchase Agreement¡¦, it seems clear to me and my colleagues, that in order to put these islands on the international map a great many things are needed and a huge amount of investment capitel is required, but that is only the start of it, because like any true success in business, as with life in general, it all comes down to people, and relationships between people. It is the people of the Penghu Islands that hold the key to success, because I believe that we have before us the sort of opportunity that come but once in a lifetime. The Penghu Islands are the best kept secret in Asia. There is an opportunity for the venture on which we are embarking on today to lead to a resort that can rival the best world has to offer. The challenge that lies before us now is to do with managing the developments that will follow Project Thistle, it is vital that we all manage that progress and thatwe do not allow it to manage us. For it all to work properly you will need to bring in people from the big bad world out there, we are the first, we are your friends, but we will not be the last.

The key to success rests with ensuring that the major international companies that will come to these islands come on your terms, and we at Amazing Lim will do all that we can to help you manage those relationships to everyone¡¦s benefit. This already started with the engineers and architects that we brought over and it continued when we exhibited with you at the ITB trade show in Berlin. It has continued with the people we brought in to look at establishing golf courses on the islands and even the week before last we brought over an executive from the UK to help develop an international marketing strategy for the Penghu Islands. We are also, with ourcolleague Ortwin, looking at helping improve your supply of clean watter. This however is all just the ¡¥tip of the iceberg¡¦ because it is the establishment of our own office here in Makung that is the true test of our commitment to you. I have known Tim Potter for many years and his intention, and determination,is to spend the rest of his life here in the Penghu Islands, which says it all. He has seen more of the world than probably the rest of us put together and for him to make the commitment that he has really speaks volumes. Having said that though, I am not sure if this place will ever be quite the same again now that he has decided to ¡¥drop an anchor¡¦.

Before I propose a toast to this venture I would like to extend a special vote of thanks to Governor Lai and his staff, in particular Hong and all the people at the land bureau, because without their help and professionalism we simply would not have got this venture off the ground. Governor Lai is a man of true vision and is a pleanure to work with who also has that rare gift of being, at the same time, a man of influence as well as being a regular guy.

I would also like to extend a special vote of thanks to Baker & Mckenzie, our lawyers for the innovative manner in which they have helped us put this deal together.

Distinguished guests, colleagues, ladies and gentlemen, someone once said to me, today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday, but today is also the first day of thenext chapter in the life of the Penghu Islands and I hope that in years to come people will look back on this day as being day it all began. The 27 th June 2000 should go down in the history books of the Penghu Islands as being the day that the proper globalization of these islands started.

I have brought a Scottish quaich, or friendship cup, with which we can all toast the beginning of this brave new path, and with Scoth Whisky I say ¡¥cheers¡¦ or ¡¥slanche¡¦ , as we say in Scotland.

Ian Irvin, President, Amazing Ltd.