The Chief Executive, Mrs Carrie Lam, met the Secretary of the CPC Shandong Provincial Committee, Mr Liu Jiayi, at Government House this evening (December 4). The Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs, Mr Patrick Nip, was also present.
 
     Mrs Lam welcomed Mr Liu's first visit to Hong Kong with a delegation in his current capacity to attend the annual Hong Kong Shandong Week and she wished the event a great success.
 
     Mrs Lam pointed out that Hong Kong and Shandong enjoy close economic and trade ties and have frequent exchanges. She said that Hong Kong is the preferred location outside Shandong for financing and listing by Shandong enterprises and that since the listing of Tsingtao Brewery in 1993, which was among the first batch of Mainland enterprises listed in Hong Kong, more than 50 enterprises from Shandong have listed in Hong Kong. She welcomed Shandong enterprises to continue to leverage on Hong Kong's advantages in finance and other professional services and make use of Hong Kong as the platform to attract foreign investment and "go global", so as to jointly explore the international market and seize the opportunities arising from the Belt and Road Initiative.
 
     Noting that Shandong has in recent years been keen to develop high-tech industries and create a favourable environment for innovation and entrepreneurship, she said that Hong Kong is developing into an international innovation and technology (I&T) centre with the support of the Central People's Government and that she believes I&T industries in the two places may explore room for enhancing exchanges and co-operation in the future. She also thanked the Shandong Provincial Government for its staunch support for the work of the Shandong Liaison Unit of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government all along, including providing facilitation for young Hong Kong people to participate in exchanges and internship programmes in Shandong, and expressed the hope that the Shandong Provincial Government would continue to implement various measures to assist Hong Kong people, especially young people, to live and develop careers in the Mainland.

Ends/Tuesday, December 4, 2018
Issued at HKT 20:59

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