Chief Executive John Lee today met Secretary of the CPC Hainan Provincial Committee Feng Fei at Government House to exchange views on deepening Hong Kong’s co-operation with Hainan.

Welcoming Mr Feng, who is leading a delegation to the city to attend the 10th Belt & Road Summit, Mr Lee noted that the signing of the "Hainan Provincial People’s Government and Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government Memorandum of Cooperation" in March further strengthened co-operation between the two places.

The memorandum covers five areas of in-depth collaboration, namely trade and investment, finance, safe and orderly flow of data, tourism, and talent exchanges.

Mr Lee also said Hainan and Hong Kong are both key links under the Belt & Road Initiative. This year marks the customs closure operation and further opening of the Hainan Free Trade Port, actively achieving a high level of opening up and high-quality development, and the two places can fully leverage their collaborative potential, jointly serving as a functional platform and contributing to the Belt & Road Initiative.

The Chief Executive welcomed and thanked the Hainan Provincial People’s Government for leveraging Hong Kong’s advantages as an international financial centre and a platform for offshore renminbi debt products, jointly contributing to the Belt-Road initiative.

He also highlighted that the Hainan Provincial People’s Government is the first provincial government of the Mainland to utilise Hong Kong’s financing platform and professional services to issue bonds.

Mr Lee said the Hong Kong SAR Government will continue to actively play its bridging role, deepening exchanges and co-operation between Hong Kong and Hainan in various areas such as economy and trade, tourism, and talent, achieving complementarities and mutual benefits, and contributing to the country’s high-quality development.

Director of the Chief Executive’s Office Carol Yip also attended the meeting.