Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said in a speech at a financial forum today (26th) that Hong Kong is committed to developing green finance, and green finance is an important support for supporting the country's green transformation to achieve the goals of carbon peak and carbon neutrality, and Hong Kong will continue to enhance its competitiveness in this regard, and looks forward to more institutions in the Greater Bay Area making good use of Hong Kong's green financial market.

Speaking at the Phoenix Bay Area Finance Forum 2023 this morning, Mr Lee said Hong Kong is a green finance hub in Asia with a total of US$805.<> billion in green and sustainable debt issued last year. For the third consecutive year, the Shenzhen Municipal People's Government has issued offshore RMB bonds in Hong Kong, including green, blue and social responsibility bonds for the first time this year.

In addition, he pointed out that the booming local stock market plays an important role in consolidating Hong Kong's status as an international financial centre and its international competitiveness. The HKSAR Government has set up a Task Force on Enhancing Stock Market Liquidity to conduct in-depth research on ways to enhance the liquidity of Hong Kong's stock market, with a view to making strategic and forward-looking plans to build a more vibrant and dynamic capital market for Hong Kong.

He added that when President Xi Jinping visited Guangdong Province in April this year, he pointed out that the Greater Bay Area has an important strategic position in the new development pattern of the country, and to make the Greater Bay Area a strategic fulcrum of the new development pattern, a demonstration place for high-quality development, and a leading place for Chinese-style modernization, the central government has repeatedly carried out new space for the construction of the Greater Bay Area in recent years, introduced different measures, and established a high-level cooperation platform for the Greater Bay Area.

Lee: Hong Kong is the only city that combines the best of China and the world

He stressed that with the institutional advantages of "one country, two systems", Hong Kong is the only city that combines China's advantages and global advantages, and is also a world-leading international financial center, which is fully qualified to play a greater role in the financial sector of the Greater Bay Area and contribute to the high-quality development of the Greater Bay Area.

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