##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

now going on in hong kong to be lifted up and poured into the millions of square feet of gleaming new office space now waiting in pudong. the outlook is, i think, somewhat more complicated, and a great deal more positive, than this scenario suggests. and it is worth adding that we have seen so many nails hammered into hong kong ’ s coffin that the coffin is now more metal than wood. according to some, in the past few years alone hong kong has been diagnosed with a whole collection of terminal diseases brought by the handover in 1997, the recent regional financial crisis, the “ threat ” not just from shanghai but also from seoul, singapore and sydney, the high cost of doing business, declining educational standards, worsening pollution and, believe it or not, too stable a currency as well, and a whole host of other factors. the impending “ catastrophe ” of china ’ s entry into the wto is the latest spectre on the horizon, and no doubt when that one passes without incident more demons will be conjured up. yet, in this moribund state, we are still managing to struggle along with gdp growth - projected for this year - of 8. 5 % and export growth at double - digit rates in recent quarters. the world bank projections on the effects of wto entry - a doubling in the space of five years of china ’ s share in international trade ( which is itself projected to grow at the rate of about 6 % per annum ) - suggests that the business “ creation effect ” stimulated by wto accession will far outweigh the “ diversion effect ”. there should, in brief, be more than enough work to keep both shanghai and hong kong busy for a long time to come, and more than enough skill and enterprise available in both cities to enable each to focus on the opportunities that wto entry will bring. there will be some similarity in functions, but there will also be scope for each city to develop its own characteristics as a financial centre. the logical trend in financial services, given the continuation of exchange controls on the mainland, in contrast to the free flow of capital in and out of hong kong, as enshrined in the basic law, seems to be for shanghai to develop as china ’ s domestic financial centre and for hong kong to develop as its international financial centre. but there is no reason why they should be deliberately constrained to these roles. china has room for at least two global cities. nor is there any reason why,