##ly access the more liquid onshore interest rate swap market to manage related interest rate risks, rather than relying on offshore non - deliverable interest rate swaps. these initiatives have been welcomed by the market and are conducive to 1 / 3 bis - central bankers'speeches closer connectivity between the onshore markets and international investors, and ultimately benefit the high - quality development of onshore financial markets. moving on to another key focus for the next stage of china's opening up : its green finance market. to achieve its dual - carbon strategies, it's estimated that over rmb100 trillion will need to be directed towards carbon reduction, which presents significant climate finance opportunities for foreign investors. as the leading green and sustainable finance hub in asia and the dominant gateway to china, hong kong plays a crucial role in supporting china's climate transition by channelling international capital to green projects. last year, out of the approximately us $ 28 billion green and sustainable bond issuances in hong kong, mainland entities accounted for over 80 % of the issuances. since 2021, we have supported the green, sustainable, and blue bond issuances from the governments of the shenzhen municipality and hainan province in hong kong. this has created a strong demonstrative effect for both public and private sectors in the mainland to leverage hong kong's green bond platform and enriched the range of rmb financial products available in the hong kong market. hong kong is already asia's largest sustainable financing centre, with one - third market share. to facilitate further growth in sustainable investment between china and the rest of the world, we have spearheaded several initiatives. first, we are the first asian jurisdiction mandating climate - related disclosure across the financial sector by 2025, and the first market working to operationalise the common ground taxonomy jointly developed by china and the eu. this allows international issuers and investors to report and communicate sustainability impacts and meet regulatory and investor needs across global markets. secondly, we have been collaborating with relevant mainland authorities to promote hong kong's green financing platform. together with the guangzhou branch of the people's bank of china and hkex, we launched the " guide for mainland corporates to issue green bonds in hong kong " last year, providing operational guidance for more mainland corporates to issue green bonds in hong kong. thirdly, we have introduced a number of financial support measures, including subsidies and tax incentives, such as the green and sustainable finance grant scheme, to cover the

##nt to compete on it. and more intense competition spurs innovation. in the long term, innovation due to increased competition is the main reason why market integration raises welfare. 5, 6 but for newcomers to be able to challenge incumbents, they must not trip over red tape. unfortunately, bureaucratic barriers to setting up a business are still high in many european countries – not least in germany, which ranks 114th in the world bank ’ s doing business report in this regard. spain does comparatively better, ranking 74th. but this still implies a considerable distance to the frontier of best practice. how large is the impact of barriers to entry on the overall economy? research suggests : quite large indeed. increasing entry costs from very low levels such as those observed in denmark, for example, to moderate ones like those in spain can reduce per capita gdp and total factor productivity by up to 10 % 7. and the small differences in the administrative cost of copenhagen economics ( 2010 ), the economic impact of a european digital single market, final report. badinger, h ( 2005 ), “ growth effects of economic integration : evidence from the eu member states ”, review of world economics 141, 50 – 78. boltho, andrea and eichengreen, barry ( 2008 ), “ the economic impact of european integration ”, cepr discussion paper no 6820. barseghyan, l ( 2008 ), “ entry costs and cross - country differences in productivity and output ”, journal of economic growth, 13 ( 2 ) : 145 – 167. bis central bankers ’ speeches entry between europe and the us seem to explain 10 to 20 % of europe ’ s lag vis - a - vis the us with regard to total factor productivity and the capital - output ratio. 8 removing barriers to entry therefore holds the promise of substantial gains in productivity and welfare. but these barriers can be tackled not only at the national level, but on the european level as well. the single market has been very successful in facilitating trade in goods. hence, competition in this area is intense. the mark - ups that firms are able to charge in addition to their costs due to market power are low and are comparable to those in the us, for example. when it comes to services, however, the picture looks different. mark - ups are higher, on average, than in the us. it is probably safe to say that the services directive has fallen short of expectations. this could be changed by finally establishing the “ country