HKSAR eyes three key mainland plans for further integration

Raymond Tam Chi-yuen, Hong Kong's Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs. [Photo by Zhan Qianhui/chinadaily.com.cn]

Hong Kong's Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Raymond Tam Chi-yuen hoped to further strengthen Hong Kong's cooperation with the mainland under the national development plans.

The Special Administrative Region (SAR) government attached great importance to its interaction with the mainland and pushed forward a variety of regional cooperation mechanisms during the past five years, according to Tam.

"There are three national-level cooperation frameworks which are very important for our future development. First one is mentioned in the 13th Five-Year plan, describing Hong Kong's role in the country's further opening-up. The second one is the cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative, which we would love to participate in actively. And the third one is the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area construction, which was also mentioned by Premier Li Keqiang in his Government Work Report," the secretary said.

The 13th Five-Year Plan highlighted that the nation will support Hong Kong to consolidate and improve its role as the international financial, shipping and trade center, which Tam said gave a clear orientation and development direction for Hong Kong.

"Hong Kong has been playing the role of international financial, shipping and trade center at the global arena for a long time, which is beneficial to our long-term prosperity and stability as well as the nation's development," he said.

"Besides enhancing our role as the global renminbi off-shore hub, becoming an international asset management center is also very important for our future development," Tam said

China has become the world's second-largest economy and Chinese mainlanders' wallets are bulging, which create a large market for asset management, he said.

"The need for services on asset allocation and risk management is increasing in the mainland, providing a great chance for us to improve our competitiveness in asset management," he added.

"Development on the high-end and high value-added service is another focus of our future work," Tam said. "Besides the traditional container port business, we should put more resources on the high-end serves such as insurance and ship lease industries."

The Belt and Road Initiative is key national development plan and has drawn attention from the whole world, Tam said, expressing Hong Kong's strong willingness to participate in it.

As a super connector, Hong Kong would like to make new contribution to the nation's further opening-up under the initiative, Tam pointed out.

"Hong Kong could provide professional service in fund-raising and asset management with our rich experience in finance and trade for the construction under the Belt and Road Initiative. We've also set up an Infrastructure Financing Facilitation Office in the Monetary Authority to provide a one-stop financing platform," he said.

Hong Kong is also able to give help on legal disputes concerning mainland investors' overseas projects as we practice the common law like most of the western countries and we are very experienced in settlement of disputes and arbitration, Tam added.

"Besides, we are willing to share our experience in railway construction and management to support the railway projects along the Belt and Road," he said.

Besides the B&R Initiative, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is another great chance for Hong Kong to grasp, according Tam.

"The bay area enjoys a unique advantage of the one country, two systems and we need to better take advantage of it. With all the convenient advantaged provided by the central government, we shall coordinate and collaborate with Macao and Guangdong to make win-win through dislocation development," he said.

The secretary also reviewed the achievements being made since the reunification in 1997, emphasizing that the implementation of "One Country, Two Systems", "Hong Kong people administering Hong Kong" with a high degree of autonomy is very successful.

"Our GDP has increased over 80 percent since 1997 and our unemployment rate is as low as 3.2 percent. We've been rated as the world's freest economy by the Heritage Foundation for 23 consecutive years," Tam said.