The Chief Executive, Mrs Carrie Lam, today (November 5) continued her visit to Beijing, where she discussed with the leaders of various Central Government commissions, including the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), the National Health Commission (NHC) and the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), measures by the Central Government to support the Hong Kong economy. Also joining the meetings were the Secretary for Transport and Housing, Mr Frank Chan Fan; the Secretary for Food and Health, Professor Sophia Chan; the Secretary for Innovation and Technology, Mr Alfred Sit; the Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs, Mr Erick Tsang Kwok-wai; the Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Mr Christopher Hui; and the Director of the Chief Executive's Office, Mr Chan Kwok-ki.

     In the morning, Mrs Lam met with the Chairman of the CSRC, Mr Yi Huiman. Mrs Lam said that Hong Kong, as an international financial centre with the advantages of a market-oriented economy and the rule of law, will fully support the country’s financial development strategy. The strengthening collaboration between the financial regulators in the Mainland and Hong Kong in recent years has boosted the connectivity between the capital markets of the two places and reinforced Hong Kong’s status as an international financial centre. She expressed the hope that the CSRC will continue to support the development of the financial industry in Hong Kong including rolling out more financial products in Hong Kong and expanding the coverage of various Connect schemes. On the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) development, Mrs Lam noted that the Central Government promulgated the Opinion on Providing Financial Support for the Development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area in May this year to introduce various concrete measures on financial development in the GBA. She said that Hong Kong will fully leverage the support of the Central Government to assume a leading role to boost the efficiency and convenience of financial connectivity in the GBA.

     In the afternoon, Mrs Lam met with the Minister of the NHC, Mr Ma Xiaowei. Mrs Lam, on behalf of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government, expressed her gratitude to the NHC for its support for Hong Kong in the fight against the COVID-19 epidemic, in particular the establishment of support teams by the NHC in a very short period of time to assist the HKSAR in completing the unprecedented large-scale Universal Community Testing Programme in Hong Kong when the epidemic situation in the city was severe as well as its support for Hong Kong to build a temporary hospital and community treatment facilities, fully demonstrating the care of the Central Government for Hong Kong. She briefed Mr Ma on Hong Kong’s anti-epidemic work, including the enhancement of its capability in testing and contact tracing, and the setting up of adequate quarantine and treatment facilities. She said that although sporadic local cases are still expected in the near future, the epidemic situation in Hong Kong has showed signs of stabilisation in general. She expressed the hope that cross-boundary flows of people between the Mainland and Hong Kong will resume in a gradual and orderly manner sooner rather than later to meet the needs of residents of the two places and  boost economic activities. She also thanked the NHC for its long-standing support for Hong Kong on the development of Chinese medicine.

     In the evening, Mrs Lam met with the Chairman of NDRC, Mr He Lifeng. She expressed gratitude to the NDRC for its support for Hong Kong’s participation in the Belt and Road Initiative and the GBA development and its co-ordination of the promulgation of various opinions and proposals conducive to the GBA development by relevant ministries. Pointing out that the global economy has been hard hit by the epidemic and presented with unprecedented challenges, she said the economy of the nation, on the other hand, has bounced back rapidly due to its strict measures to control the epidemic and that it is necessary for Hong Kong to integrate better into the overall development of the nation and grasp the opportunities brought about by the development of the GBA in order to revive economic growth. She said that she is encouraged by the nation’s 14th Five-Year Plan and Long-Range Objectives Through the Year 2035 promulgated earlier, which clearly support better integration of Hong Kong and Macao into the overall development of the nation and the development of a high-quality GBA. She said the HKSAR Government hopes that the Central Government will further consolidate Hong Kong's status as an international financial, transportation and trade centre and an international aviation hub, establish an international innovation and technology hub and facilitate movement of major production factors in the GBA.

     Mrs Lam will conclude her visit to Beijing tomorrow (November 6) and depart for Guangzhou in the evening.

Ends/Thursday, November 5, 2020
Issued at HKT 21:25

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