Belt-Road Summit Opens

The fifth Belt & Road Summit opened today with more than 6,000 government officials, entrepreneurs and professionals from about 80 countries and regions signed up to participate online.

In her opening address, Chief Executive Carrie Lam highlighted the importance of global collaboration at this time of profound changes, which had the potential to unleash innovation and create opportunities.

She also congratulated the 15 states on the signing of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) earlier this month, stressing that the agreement was a strong testimony to free trade, multilateralism and regional co-operation and would inject fresh impetus to the global economy.

She said that Hong Kong had received clear support from some of the partnership’s member states on joining the RCEP and looked forward to beginning discussions on Hong Kong’s accession at the earliest opportunity.

The Chief Executive said that Hong Kong, an active player in the Belt & Road Initiative, is keen to strengthen collaboration and partnership with other Belt & Road economies on various fronts, including the sharing of its home-grown, anti-epidemic technology.

Addressing a business plenary, Financial Secretary Paul Chan said Hong Kong was increasingly turning to green and sustainable finance to drive initiatives in public health, climate resilience and financial development.

Mr Chan added Hong Kong would capitalise on the unprecedented green and sustainable finance opportunities presented by the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and the Belt & Road Initiative.

Jointly organised by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government and the Trade Development Council, the summit featured a project pitching session on innovation and technology and sessions on international infrastructural co-operation.

It also staged the first-ever virtual exhibition with over 30 Hong Kong companies showcasing their businesses ranging from banking and finance to I&T.