Hong Kong will heed President Xi Jinping’s call to forge closer ties with the Greater Bay Area to pursue technological innovations, the finance chief has said, noting the number of start-ups in the city increased by 40 per cent between 2020 and 2024.
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Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po also vowed on Sunday to help bay area cities tap into international markets by leveraging Hong Kong’s dual roles for “going global and attracting foreign investment”.
He cited President Xi’s remarks during a recent inspection tour in Guangdong that there was a need to “strengthen technological innovation cooperation and infrastructure connectivity, and promote soft connectivity in rules and mechanisms”.
“Hong Kong must leverage its role as an international two-way platform to contribute more deeply to the development and construction of the Greater Bay Area, supporting greater market integration and unlocking its advantages,” Chan wrote in his weekly blog.
The finance chief said he believed such integration would also help Hong Kong’s future development to be “more diverse, promising and exciting”.
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He highlighted that Hong Kong’s financial and innovation ecosystems had flourished in recent years, accelerating economic development.