Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor delivers the opening address at the fifth Belt and Road Summit held online on Monday. (PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)
Hong Kong is well-positioned to play a bigger role in the Belt and Road Initiative, as the coronavirus pandemic has highlighted the importance of enhanced international cooperation, officials said on Monday.
They made the remarks at the fifth Belt and Road Summit, which was held online.
Hong Kong’s unique strengths make it an “ideal partner” for those who are looking to grasp the opportunities brought by the Belt and Road Initiative, Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said.
The special administrative region, with its long-standing status as an international financial center, will also work to boost green finance and sustainable investment along the Belt and Road Initiative
Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor,
Hong Kong chief executive
The city boasts the rule of law, an open and efficient market, the free flow of capital, information and people, a simple and low tax regime, as well as a large pool of talent, she said.
“And it all comes together within the ‘one country, two systems’ framework, which creates a continuing flow of connections between overseas markets and the Chinese mainland,” she said, adding that development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area will bring greater opportunities to overseas businesses.
The special administrative region, with its long-standing status as an international financial center, will also work to boost green finance and sustainable investment along the Belt and Road Initiative, Lam added.
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Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said Hong Kong is well-equipped to develop into a leading regional hub for green and sustainable finance. The amount of green bonds arranged and issued in Hong Kong tripled between 2017 and 2019, despite the anti-government protests last year.
Chan said Hong Kong is eager to seize the unprecedented opportunities that green and sustainable finance can bring to the Bay Area and international economies, including those along the Belt and Road, to elevate Hong Kong’s position as a regional green and sustainable finance hub.
“We will continue to facilitate and provide necessary infrastructure and catalyst for promoting market development,” he said.
Ning Jizhe, vice-chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission, the country’s top economic planner, said Hong Kong has the capability and condition to participate actively in the national economic development, as the country pushes forward with the new “dual circulation” development pattern, presented by the central government earlier this year, in which the domestic market serves as the mainstay while the domestic and international markets reinforce each other.
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In terms of trade, Hong Kong enterprises can give full play to their sophisticated experience in operation and management in overseas markets and help expand areas and channels of investment and financing, he said.
In professional services, meanwhile, Hong Kong businesses’ edge in architecture, logistics, consulting and accounting can complement that of their mainland counterparts in their international exploration, he added.
Wang Bingnan, vice-minister of the Ministry of Commerce, said allowing Hong Kong to participate in the development of the Belt and Road Initiative is a reflection of the country’s high-level opening-up and support for the city to better integrate into the national development.
The country will fully support Hong Kong’s participation in international and regional economic collaboration to expand its economic and trade partnership around the world, he said.
