High-level roundtable on ″Fostering Hong Kong as Belt and Road Functional Platform together with State-owned Enterprises″

The Commerce and Economic Development Bureau (CEDB), the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council (SASAC) and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) jointly organised a high-level roundtable on "Fostering Hong Kong as Belt and Road Functional Platform together with State-owned Enterprises" on 8 January 2021, with a view to promoting exchanges and co-operation between State-owned Enterprises (SoEs) and Hong Kong's business and professional services sector (including investment and financing), thereby jointly raising the competitiveness and the standard of participation under the Belt and Road Initiative.

The Director-General of the Bureau of Property Right Management of the SASAC, Mr Jia Like, and the Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, Mr Edward Yau, addressed the audience at the roundtable. The Chief Executive of the HKMA, Mr Eddie Yue, and the Managing Director, Deputy Head of Market Development and Head of Global Issuer Services of the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited, Ms Christina Bao, outlined the development prospects by making full use of Hong Kong as an international financial centre and an important capital market respectively. It was then followed by a dynamic discussion session moderated by the Commissioner for Belt and Road, Mr Denis Yip, who also delivered the concluding remarks. Q&A sessions were arranged during the roundtable for SoEs to interact with the Hong Kong speakers. Please refer to the link for the rundown (Chinese only).

The discussion session was joined by the Chairman of the Financial Services Development Council, Mr Laurence Li; the Immediate Past President of the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Mr Johnson Kong; and the Chairman of the Hong Kong Productivity Council, Mr Willy Lin. They discussed on how SoEs could promote the sustainable development of Belt and Road projects with Hong Kong's professional services sector. They also shared Hong Kong's experiences and relevant international principles in strengthening modern corporate governance by engaging professional services. The session also included a discussion on smart production and innovative technology as a means of raising resilience and competitiveness to pave the way for continuous development in post-epidemic times.

The high-level roundtable was attended by more than 100 representatives from 25 SoEs, with close to 100 relevant enterprises or members from more than 10 professional services bodies and institutions in Hong Kong viewing it online. More details can be found in the press release.