HK to sign Belt-Road pact
(September 11, 2017)
Secretary for Commerce & Economic Development Edward Yau made the statement to the media after attending the Belt & Road Summit today.
He said: "The proposed signing of an agreement with the Central Government is to build a platform, where we can demonstrate areas that Hong Kong is good at, particularly among enterprises and professional services that can contribute to the Belt & Road Initiative.
"We hope this agreement would set out more clearly areas that we can contribute to the Belt & Road Initiative, and also give a pointer to enterprises or professional services in Hong Kong on the opportunities that may be given rise from the ongoing development of the Belt & Road Initiative."
Mr Yau also said Hong Kong will sign free trade pacts with countries along the Belt & Road corridor which have big potential for bilateral trade relations, adding Hong Kong attaches great importance to bilateral and multilateral trade agreements with its trading partners.
"We have so far entered into these trade agreements with a selected few, including the Mainland, some European countries, Chile and New Zealand.
"As we move on, we should be conscious of entering into future free trade agreements with countries along the Belt & Road where we see we have greater potential for bilateral trading relations.
"We are already embarking on negotiations with some selected countries. Obviously with the limited resources and comparative priorities, we will focus on countries and economies where we think that there will be mutual benefits."
