rmb business in hong kong has grown by leaps and bounds within just a year after the introduction of the cross - border rmb trade settlement in july last year. rmb services for all types of enterprises as well as personal financial and wealth management rmb products, including insurances, investment products and funds, have been launched one after another and have been welcomed by the public and investors. hong kong can play a part in expanding and deepening rmb offshore business by serving as the “ window ”, “ testing ground ” and “ firewall ” for rmb ’ s internationalisation and make important contribution to the gradual relaxation of restrictions on capital accounts in china and the gradual move towards free convertibility of rmb. i would like to emphasise that china has made remarkable achievements with its reform and opening up in the past 30 years and hong kong has made major and irreplaceable contributions in numerous aspects in the process. after we have reviewed the past, we will have to look forward to the future. i believe that under the principle of “ one country two system ”, hong kong will continue to contribute to the continuous development of china, the modernisation of its financial system, and its linking to the international markets, helping to develop china as a fully “ moderately affluent ” community. thank you very much.

peter pang : the sme sector – an important pillar of many economies statement by mr peter pang, deputy chief executive of the hong kong monetary and head of delegation, at the 44th asian development bank annual meeting, hanoi, 5 may 2011. * * * i would like to thank the government and the people of viet nam for their warm hospitality in hosting this year ’ s annual meeting of the asian development bank. i would also like to take this opportunity to express my deepest condolences to the people of japan affected by the recent tragic events. the global recovery has gained traction, with emerging asia in particular rebounding strongly from the global financial crisis. compared with the last asian financial crisis, the damage to the real economy of the region was much more contained this time. this is in large part attributable to the reforms taken by regional economies over the years to strengthen economic fundamentals and improve the resilience of their banking and financial systems. in addition, a number of regional economies have also promptly taken temporary extraordinary measures to support their economies and cushion the impact on employment. a number of these supportive measures were targeted at assisting the small and medium - sized enterprise ( sme ) sector, which is an important pillar of many economies. smes play a crucial role in the economic growth and job creation of both developing and advanced economies. in hong kong, china, for instance, smes account for 98 % of business establishments and employ nearly half of the total workforce. they provide a broad range of employment opportunities and play an important role in reducing urban poverty. it is no exaggeration to say that when smes thrive, the economy prospers. this is also true vice versa. smes are particularly vulnerable to economic downturns, as banks often reduce their lending to the sme sector due to credit concerns. the exceptional severity of the credit crunch during the global financial crisis has therefore posed great challenges to the smes. in response, the government of hong kong, china swiftly rolled out a temporary hk $ 100 bn special loan guarantee scheme ( slgs ) in december 2008 to alleviate the difficulty of smes in obtaining bank finance and the potential surge in unemployment due to the closing down of smes. together with other short - term government stimulus measures, the slgs has been successful in supporting the smes to sail through this once - in - a - century crisis and limit the potential knock - on impact on the economy. unemployment rate increased by a modest 2. 3