Briefings by the Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, the Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs and the Secretary for Innovation and Technology on the Chief Executive’s 2017 Policy Address
The Belt and Road Initiative
Mr CHAN Chun-ying enquired about the division of work between CEDB and other public organizations such as HKTDC in the promotion of and participation in the Belt and Road Initiative.
SCED advised that as stated in paragraph 57 of the 2017 Policy Address, CEDB had been tasked to coordinate the work of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (“HKSAR”) Government on the Belt and Road Initiative. CEDB assumed a steering and co-ordinating role within the HKSAR Government, and acted as the major contact point with the Central Authorities on Belt and Road-related matters. CEDB collaborated with CMAB to take forward the Belt and Road Initiative through the five offices in the Mainland under CMAB and the 12 overseas ETOs under CEDB. CEDB also collaborated with ITB as well as HKTDC on related matters. Moreover, CEDB was in discussion with the Central Authorities with the aim of entering into an agreement with the National Development and Reform Commission of Hong Kong’s full participation in the Belt and Road Initiative by the end of 2017.
Noting that the Administration was looking into the possibility of establishing an information sharing platform on the Belt and Road Initiative with the Mainland’s ministries, Mr CHAN Chun-ying enquired about the existing measures taken by the Administration to share information on the Belt and Road projects. SCED advised that HKTDC had set up a dedicated portal on the Belt and Road Initiative for sharing relevant information. In collaboration with HKTDC, CEDB would continue to jointly organize the annual Belt and Road Summit which served as a key platform to promote and foster Hong Kong as an international commerce and trading platform for the Belt and Road Initiative.