eddie yue : opening remarks - hong kong monetary authortity - dubai financial services authority joint climate finance conference opening remarks by mr eddie yue, chief executive of the hong kong monetary authority, at the hkma - dubai financial services authority ( dfsa ) joint climate finance conference, hong kong, 16 september 2024. * * * ian [ johnston, chief executive of the dubai financial services authority ( dfsa ) ], colleagues from the dfsa and friends joining us in - person and online, good morning and good afternoon. greetings and introduction welcome to the inaugural hkma - dfsa joint climate finance conference. it was in the summer of 2023 when ian and i talked about having a joint conference together. ian has always been a very active contributor to the global dialogue on sustainability, and his visions for climate finance resonated a lot with me. we quickly came to an agreement that we should have a mechanism where key stakeholders in hong kong and dubai can meet regularly to discuss our shared challenges in scaling climate finance, explore and pilot innovative solutions, and coordinate a regional response to net - zero. and now, here we are, just over a year since our discussion, at the inaugural joint conference. let me first take this chance to express our appreciation for ian, dfsa colleagues and our industry friends who all help make this meaningful initiative happen. importance of collaboration our concerted efforts speak volumes about the growing recognition of collaboration between public and private sectors, financial institutions and corporations, and international organisations and local communities. none of us, by acting alone, can move the needle on decarbonisation. our collaboration needs to extend beyond borders as well. climate change is a global challenge that requires a global response. hong kong and dubai, as the sustainable finance hubs in asia and the middle east, can do and should do more together. collaboration between hong kong and dubai when it comes to climate finance, hong kong and dubai have a lot in common. we are the key gateways between east and west ; both with very vibrant sustainable bond markets ; encouraging technology adoption, actively participating in global standardsetting and fully committed to local alignment. 1 / 2 bis - central bankers'speeches more importantly, we both are very proactive in taking the initiative. in the race against climate change, we cannot afford to wait until we have a perfectly robust approach. the like - minded need to join hands and embark on the sustainable finance journey knowing that there will be hurdles or

172 commercial banks ’ branches and account for over 12 % of the total currency activities in the country. as the banking fraternity looks forward, the lessons learnt from these three centres will inform policy and strategies for the next phase of this initiative. honourable deputy prime minister and minister for finance, in finalizing my remarks, allow me to express our appreciation to the government for the continued support to the banking sector initiatives. notable areas of these initiatives are : mobile financial services platform ; establishment of credit information sharing framework, establishment of agency banking ; operation of deposit taking microfinance institutions and more recently, the cheque truncation system. these initiatives have been rolled out under the background support of the government and more specifically the ministry of finance. the central bank of kenya in collaboration with the kenya bankers association will continue working hard to make a positive contribution for the prosperity of our country and to make kenya investors ’ financial hub of choice. bis central bankers ’ speeches with these few remarks, it gives me great pleasure to invite the deputy prime minister and minister for finance, hon. uhuru kenyatta, to address this occasion, officially launch the currency centres initiative in kenya and formally open meru currency centre. thank you bis central bankers ’ speeches