The Chief Executive, Mrs Carrie Lam, started her visit to Wuhan, Hubei Province, today (November 29), where she held the High-Level Meeting cum First Plenary Session of the Hong Kong/Hubei Co-operation Conference with the leaders of Hubei Province, and conducted visits to a hospital and an intelligent automobile enterprise. The Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr John Lee; the Secretary for Innovation and Technology, Mr Alfred Sit; the Secretary for Home Affairs, Mr Caspar Tsui; and the Under Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs, Mr Clement Woo, also attended the conference and joined the visits.

     Mrs Lam met with the Secretary of the CPC Hubei Provincial Committee, Mr Ying Yong, in the afternoon. She thanked Mr Ying for his support for the work of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), no matter whether he was the Mayor of Shanghai in the past, or as the Secretary of the CPC Hubei Provincial Committee in his present position. She also expressed her special gratitude to Hubei Province for taking care of Hong Kong people in the province at the onset of the COVID-19 epidemic in Wuhan last year, including the delivery of emergency drugs and essential supplies to them, and the province's full support for the HKSAR Government to arrange chartered flights to bring Hong Kong people home. Noting that the current-term Government has been actively enhancing collaboration with various Mainland provinces and cities, Mrs Lam said she is pleased that the Hubei Provincial Government accepted the proposal of the HKSAR Government earlier this year to establish a Hong Kong-Hubei co-operation mechanism with the support of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council.

     She said that although the HKSAR Government has set up the Wuhan Economic and Trade Office of the HKSAR Government as early as 2014, the Hong Kong-Hubei co-operation mechanism is the first high-level co-operation mechanism set up between the HKSAR and a province in the central region of the Mainland. Pointing out that Hong Kong and Hubei enjoy strong complementary and geographical advantages, Mrs Lam said that there are good prospects for co-operation between the two places. In particular, Hong Kong, as an international financial centre, can assist Hubei enterprises to "go global" by providing services on fundraising through listings and expanding to overseas markets.

     Mrs Lam also pointed out that, under the robust leadership and full support of the Central Authorities, Hong Kong has achieved a major transformation from chaos to governance and has ushered in an unprecedented bright new era. She added that the HKSAR is seizing the support of the country under the 14th Five-Year Plan and the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area to proactively integrate into the national development. Mrs Lam said that with the support of the country to develop the "eight centres" in the 14th Five-Year Plan, the HKSAR would be able to fully align with the "five centres" that Wuhan is actively developing, namely a national economic centre, a national centre for scientific and technological innovation, a national centre for trade and logistics, a centre of international exchanges and a regional financial centre, raising the co-operation between the two places to a higher level.

     ​After the meeting, Mrs Lam and Mr Ying co-hosted the High-Level Meeting cum First Plenary Session of the Hong Kong/Hubei Co-operation Conference and reached a consensus to foster collaboration between Hong Kong and Hubei on all fronts to contribute to the national development. Mr Ying then hosted a welcome dinner for Mrs Lam and members of the delegation. They were also arranged to have a tour of the Yangtze River to view the wonders of the historical city.

     In the morning, Mrs Lam, accompanied by the Vice Governor of Hubei Province, Mr Zhao Haishan, visited a Hong Kong enterprise, Wuhan Asia General Hospital, to learn more about its advanced facilities and the frontline healthcare workers' experiences in fighting the COVID-19 epidemic. Wuhan Asia General Hospital is the first non-public designated hospital for treating COVID-19 patients at the early stage of the epidemic last year. It was also the only non-public healthcare institution to take over the management of a mobile field hospital. At the height of the epidemic, the hospital pledged to accord priority to admit infected local Hong Kong residents, and it also provided test kits to assist in Hong Kong's anti-epidemic work. Mrs Lam presented a flag of appreciation to the hospital management and frontline healthcare workers for their selfless contributions, helping the country fight the epidemic amid the most difficult situation.

     Next, Mrs Lam visited the China EV100 intelligent network research institute to learn more about its development of intelligent automobiles, smart city software and business operating system platform. She also took a ride on an unmanned bus and viewed a demonstration of an unmanned specialised vehicle.

     Mrs Lam will continue her visit to Wuhan tomorrow (November 30).

Ends/Monday, November 29, 2021
Issued at HKT 21:33

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