CE extends gratitude to Vice Premier of State Council for keynote speech delivered at eighth Belt and Road Summit
13.9.2023

The eighth Belt and Road Summit opened today (September 13) in Hong Kong. The Vice Premier of the State Council, Mr Ding Xuexiang, delivered a keynote speech during the opening session of the summit. The Chief Executive, Mr John Lee, expressed his gratitude to Vice Premier Ding for his speech and strong support for the summit. Mr Lee said, "Vice Premier Ding summarised the fruitful achievements made in promoting the Belt and Road Initiative over the past decade. This includes China's signing of over 200 co-operation agreements on jointly promoting the Belt and Road Initiative with over 180 countries and international organisations to deepen co-operation in such fields as education, science, culture, sports and tourism. He affirmed Hong Kong's active participation in promoting the Belt and Road Initiative by leveraging its unique advantages, and its pursuit of better and greater development while integrating into the overall development of the country. He also supported Hong Kong to maintain its distinctive status and edges, and to play a more important role in the promotion of the Belt and Road Initiative. "We are deeply encouraged by Vice Premier Ding's remarks, which stated that the Hong Kong Belt and Road Summit has become an important international business platform to promote co-operation, while the prospect of Hong Kong's participation in and contribution to the Belt and Road Initiative are broad and promising." Speaking at the summit, Vice Premier Ding expressed his hope that Hong Kong could deepen regional co-operation to further expand its economic and trade networks; improve financial services to further boost its financial connectivity; gather professional services to further leverage its wealth of talent; and deepen cultural exchanges to further promote people-to-people bonds. "The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government attaches great importance to regional co-operation. Since the full resumption of normal travel this year, I have led two business and professional delegations to visit the Middle East and three member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, exploring room for collaboration in areas such as new energy vehicles, urban design, and co-operation of hotel business. We are making every effort to strive for early accession to the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership and explore the signing of free trade agreements and investment agreements with more countries and economies," Mr Lee said. Mr Lee said, "Under 'one country, two systems', Hong Kong has the distinctive advantages of enjoying strong support of the motherland and being closely connected to the world. Having direct access to the huge Mainland market, Hong Kong serves as an important bridge and window linking the Mainland and the rest of the world. The Belt and Road Summit is an important international business platform to promote Belt and Road co-operation. Hong Kong will continue to enhance its connectivity with the Mainland and the rest of the world; attract talent and nurture a diverse local talent pool; make good use of its status as an international financial, trade and shipping centre; leverage the advantages of its professional services that are in line with international standards; consolidate its status as an international legal and dispute resolution services centre in the Asia-Pacific region; further develop Hong Kong into an international innovation and technology centre and an East-meets-West centre for international cultural exchange; promote exchanges in such areas as education, science and technology, tourism, arts and youth; and enhance people-to-people bonds, with the view to continuously contributing to the promotion of the high-quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative." Ends/Wednesday, September 13, 2023 Issued at HKT 13:06 NNNN