Beijing sets out Hong Kong’s vital role in national economy as ‘experimental’ test bed, with vice-premier listing ‘three suggestions’ for city
- Hong Kong should also continue improving its standing as an international financial centre, Vice-Premier He Lifeng says at high-level summit
- City should further integrate into nation’s development, focus on strengthening its own infrastructure and raise its influence, he says
Beijing has lent its unequivocal support to Hong Kong’s future, setting out its vital role in the national economy by being an “experimental” test bed for the mainland’s opening up and for its companies to list in the city and expand globally.
Hong Kong should also continue improving its standing as an international financial centre, Chinese Vice-Premier He Lifeng said at the opening of a high-level banking summit.
The city should further integrate into the nation’s development, focus on strengthening its own infrastructure and raise its influence, and make good use of its international financial centre role to boost financial connectivity, he said on Tuesday.
“Hong Kong has always been an important bridge and link between the mainland and the rest of the world,” He said in a virtual address at the Global Financial Leaders’ Investment Summit.
“In future, it can further leverage its unique advantages as an international financial centre, actively integrating into the overall national development.”
Increasingly regarded as the country’s rising economic tsar, He said Hong Kong was a key source of foreign investment for the mainland and served as the preferred channel for Chinese enterprises’ overseas investment and financing.
The second annual summit, which was organised by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority to mark its 30th anniversary, drew as many as 300 global business leaders including 90 C-suite executives from financial institutions.