HONG KONG – Hong Kong’s financial secretary briefed President Xi Jinping about the city’s economic and social situation during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings in San Francisco, the United States, which concluded on Friday.

“As to my interactions with President Xi, he is very kind to Hong Kong, and he cares about Hong Kong very much. I took the opportunity to brief him about the economic and social situation in Hong Kong,” Paul Chan Mo-po said when asked about his interactions with President Xi at a media session on Friday after he wrapped up his US visit.

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He said he also took the opportunity to brief him about the initiatives taken by the current special administrative region government, particularly on attracting strategic enterprises and attracting talents.

Coming to this meeting, I have a better grasp of how the various economies see the economic prospects in 2024.

Paul Chan, Financial Secretary, HKSAR

On attracting strategic enterprises, he mentioned four areas the government is focusing – namely artificial intelligence and big data analytics; biotech, biomedicine and health science; financial technology; and new materials, new energy and advanced manufacturing. 

The SAR government will organize more international events to attract more international businesses and visitors to come to Hong Kong to see for themselves the opportunities in the city, he said.

Chan attended the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting on behalf of Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu as the CE was not able to attend it in person due to scheduling issues, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry. 

“Coming to this meeting, I have a better grasp of how the various economies see the economic prospects in 2024,” he said.

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The financial secretary said he noted that a lot of economies spent a lot on pandemic-related expenditure during the past three years. 

“Everyone seems to be agreeing that in the coming year, the first and foremost task is to grow the economy so as to rebuild the financial buffer and fiscal space, as well as improving the quality of life of people through development, particularly through a more inclusive development,” he added.