​The Chief Executive, Mr John Lee, met the Secretary of the CPC Jiangmen Municipal Committee, Mr Chen Anming, today (August 1) to exchange views on deepening Hong Kong’s co-operation with Jiangmen. The Director of the Chief Executive’s Office, Ms Carol Yip, also attended the meeting.　
      
     Mr Lee welcomed Mr Chen’s visit to Hong Kong with his delegation. He said that Hong Kong proactively promotes and strengthens its co-operation with Jiangmen, as well as other cities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) to achieve complementarity and mutual benefits, contributing to the construction of an international first-class bay area for living, working and travelling.
      
     Noting that Hong Kong has strong capabilities in scientific research while the advanced manufacturing of Jiangmen has been developing rapidly, Mr Lee said he looked forward to the continued deepening of collaboration among the industry, academia and research sectors, promoting the transformation of technological outcomes, and strengthening the linkage of innovation and technology between the two places.
      
     Mr Lee said that he had led a Hong Kong Special Administrative Region delegation to visit three member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), namely Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia last week, where he introduced Hong Kong’s unique advantages of enjoying the strong support of the motherland and being closely connected to the world under “one country, two systems” to local political and business communities, and encouraged ASEAN enterprises to explore the GBA market and expand their businesses in Hong Kong and other bay area cities by making good use of Hong Kong’s professional services and financing platform.

     The Chief Executive, Mr John Lee, met the Secretary of the CPC Fujian Provincial Committee, Mr Zhou Zuyi, at Government House today (June 27) to exchange views on strengthening Hong Kong’s co-operation with Fujian. The Deputy Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Cheuk Wing-hing; the Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism, Mr Kevin Yeung; the Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs, Mr Erick Tsang Kwok-wai; and the Secretary for Education, Dr Choi Yuk-lin, also attended the meeting.

     Mr Lee welcomed Mr Zhou and his delegation’s visit to Hong Kong. He said that the relationship between Fujian and Hong Kong has always been close, adding that Hong Kong has been the largest source of external direct investment in the province in recent years. Mr Lee said he was confident that with the gradual recovery of the global economy, the economic and trade co-operation between Hong Kong and Fujian will bring new impetus to the economic growth of both places.
      
     He wished the Fourth Plenary Session of the Hong Kong/Fujian Co-operation Conference to be held in Hong Kong tomorrow (June 28) a great success with fruitful achievements, bringing the co-operation and development of the two places to new heights.
      
     Mr Lee pointed out that the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government has all along been fully leveraging Hong Kong’s role as a functional platform for the Belt and Road Initiative, and encouraging Hong Kong enterprises and its professional services sectors to expand their businesses in the Belt and Road countries and collaborate with Mainland enterprises in going global together. He noted that Hong Kong offers an enormous base of professionals well versed in international regulations, who could provide Fujian with legal advice and services in Belt and Road development projects and help enterprises understand international rules, so that they could effectively cope with relevant risks when investing in different countries or regions.
      
     Mr Lee said that he looked forward to the continuous and pragmatic co-operation between Fujian and Hong Kong in such areas as innovation and technology, maritime and logistics, tourism and youth development, so the two places could better grasp the development opportunities arising from the National 14th Five-Year Plan and promote mutual benefits. The Fujian Liaison Unit of the HKSAR Government will continue to act as a bridge to promote exchanges and co-operation between the two places.