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Saturday, Feb 22, 2025
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Hub key lies north for Lam
Hong Kong has to keep its advantages while proactively searching for more openings created by the Greater Bay Area initiative and Beijing's 14th five-year plan to offset the possible economic impact brought by the fast-spreading Covid Omicron variant, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said.
In an online forum about the Asian financial market yesterday, Lam said Hong Kong's financial system is supported by the one country, two systems principle, the rule of law and an independent judiciary.
She added that its freedoms are protected by the Basic Law, and that the national security law and electoral changes have strengthened these advantages.
The SAR's status as an international financial hub will, as she sees it, be consolidated under the central government's support.
"[Hong Kong's] role as an international asset management center, a risk management center as well as an offshore renminbi business hub are also enhanced under the 14th five-year plan," she said.
Lam cited Hong Kong's being ranked third in the Global Financial Centers Index report released in September by Z/Yen, a commercial think-tank in the United Kingdom, and China Development Institute in Shenzhen.
Also noting the Fraser Institute's Economic Freedom of the World 2021 annual report had ranked Hong Kong as the world's freest economy, she said both reports indicated that investors around the world remained confident about Hong Kong's financial system.
Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Christopher Hui Ching-yu also gave a prerecorded speech in the online forum.
Sporting a mask, Hui said he hoped the SAR can be an example to the rest of the world that the economy can recover under anti-epidemic measures, as Hong Kong witnessed a noticeable improvement in the market and had a predicted economic growth of 6.4 percent last year amid the ongoing pandemic.
Noting the SAR's status as a world-leading financial hub with a location advantage that can develop into a sustainable economic platform, Hui said Hong Kong is proactively exploring the possibility of becoming a regional carbon trading hub.
He said Hong Kong aims to halve the 2005 carbon emissions level by 2035, and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
Hui also said Hong Kong has adopted a multipronged approach to facilitating the city's moves into green and sustainable financing, including issuing green bonds to set an example for the market.
But he stressed that climate change is a global issue that requires a concerted worldwide effort to cope with it.
Hui was among 11 officials who had attended Witman Hung Wai-man's birthday party on January 3 and has been ordered to take annual leave for mandatory home isolation for 21 days, before resuming his duties after negative tests.
She added that its freedoms are protected by the Basic Law, and that the national security law and electoral changes have strengthened these advantages.
The SAR's status as an international financial hub will, as she sees it, be consolidated under the central government's support.
"[Hong Kong's] role as an international asset management center, a risk management center as well as an offshore renminbi business hub are also enhanced under the 14th five-year plan," she said.
Lam cited Hong Kong's being ranked third in the Global Financial Centers Index report released in September by Z/Yen, a commercial think-tank in the United Kingdom, and China Development Institute in Shenzhen.
Also noting the Fraser Institute's Economic Freedom of the World 2021 annual report had ranked Hong Kong as the world's freest economy, she said both reports indicated that investors around the world remained confident about Hong Kong's financial system.
Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Christopher Hui Ching-yu also gave a prerecorded speech in the online forum.
Sporting a mask, Hui said he hoped the SAR can be an example to the rest of the world that the economy can recover under anti-epidemic measures, as Hong Kong witnessed a noticeable improvement in the market and had a predicted economic growth of 6.4 percent last year amid the ongoing pandemic.
Noting the SAR's status as a world-leading financial hub with a location advantage that can develop into a sustainable economic platform, Hui said Hong Kong is proactively exploring the possibility of becoming a regional carbon trading hub.
He said Hong Kong aims to halve the 2005 carbon emissions level by 2035, and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
Hui also said Hong Kong has adopted a multipronged approach to facilitating the city's moves into green and sustainable financing, including issuing green bonds to set an example for the market.
But he stressed that climate change is a global issue that requires a concerted worldwide effort to cope with it.
Hui was among 11 officials who had attended Witman Hung Wai-man's birthday party on January 3 and has been ordered to take annual leave for mandatory home isolation for 21 days, before resuming his duties after negative tests.
