HKMA and SASAC Co-organise 2nd ‘Connecting Belt & Road, Capturing Opportunities Together’ High-level Roundtable

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) and the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council (SASAC) co-organised the second ‘Connecting Belt & Road, Capturing Opportunities Together’ High-level Roundtable on 9 – 10 July 2019 in Hong Kong to discuss how Central State-owned Enterprises (CSoEs) can leverage on Hong Kong’s advantages to facilitate their overseas investment and business expansion.

The roundtable focused on how CSoEs could leverage on Hong Kong’s strategic role in Mainland China’s reform and opening up as well as its unique advantages to “go out” for investment and expanding business overseas. The participants also exchanged with leading international institutional investors their experiences and challenges in infrastructure projects investment in emerging markets, and explored possible collaborative approaches and the latest global trends. They also looked into how Hong Kong could serve as a platform to raise the “environmental, social and governance” (ESG) standards of infrastructure projects overseas. The event brought together some 30 senior executives from SASAC and six CSoEs, as well as high-level representatives from Hong Kong’s financial and professional service sectors.

Mr Norman Chan, Chief Executive of the HKMA said, “With a mature capital market and world-class professional services, Hong Kong provides enterprises with well-diversified financing channels, and has always been the preferred platform for Mainland enterprises’ to ‘go out’. This is the second High-level Roundtable we co-organised with SASAC. We highly appreciate SASAC in supporting and encouraging CSoEs to make greater use of Hong Kong as a platform for expanding business overseas. We look forward to fostering closer collaboration between CSoEs and the Hong Kong business community to explore development opportunities together.”

Ms Zhao Aiming, Vice Chairman of SASAC said, “In the new era of China’s reform and opening up, Hong Kong has unique advantages in facilitating the CSoEs to “go out”, evolve as world-class and globally competitive enterprises, and shape the new landscape of opening up with emphasis on the Belt & Road development. Leveraging its position as an international financial, shipping and trading centre, with its well-developed financial markets, sophisticated risk management services, and conducive tax policies, Hong Kong can play an irreplaceable role in fostering a favourable environment and broadening new horizons for the CSoEs to achieve market-oriented reforms, high-level openness and high-quality development. We hope that the CSoEs and Hong Kong could further strengthen their strategic ties and explore opportunities in Belt & Road projects with demonstrative effects; promote greater cooperation to develop the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area; further deepen collaborations to support enterprises in becoming more competitive globally, and at the same time, consolidating and enhancing Hong Kong’s status as an international financial, trading and shipping centre. This enables CSoEs and Hong Kong to leverage each other’s potentials and strengths, working together collaboratively in serving the needs of the country, realising win-win opportunities, and making greater contribution by jointly promoting the sustainable development of the Belt & Road Initiative.”

Hong Kong Monetary Authority
10 July 2019

Photo shows Mr Norman Chan, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (right) and Ms Zhao Aiming, Vice Chairman of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council (left).

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority and the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council co-organise the second High-level Roundtable to discuss how Hong Kong can facilitate Central State-owned Enterprises’ investment and expansion in Belt & Road countries.