Members’ Motion： “Better aligning with the national development strategy for promoting high-standard opening up”
President, the 15th Five-Year Plan (“FYP”) explicitly points out that Hong Kong should promote high-standard opening up, establish institutional and regulatory frameworks that align with high-standard economic and trade rules, and enhance its opening layout. Hong Kong should proactively utilize our subjective initiative to accurately align with the country’s major policy directions. To play the role from “super connector” to “super value-adder”, Hong Kong is not only required to serve as a bridge connecting to the world, but also leverage our own strengths to add value by becoming a better catalyst for cooperation between the two places. I thank Dr Johnny NG for proposing this motion, and I support the motion and other amendments.
With regard to the financial sector, Hong Kong boasts the world’s largest offshore Renminbi (“RMB”) liquidity pool and provides diversified products and services, it should therefore take up a greater role in the internationalization of RMB. Our performance in offshore RMB bond issuance in 2024 was particularly outstanding, with issuance volume growing by 37% year-on-year to exceed RMB1 trillion, setting a new record high. However, in order to further stimulate market trading, more stable offshore RMB Debt Issuance Programme should be established. In addition to increasing the volume of debt issuance in the existing short-, medium- and long-term, we should also attract different types of issuers (such as large-scale Mainland enterprises, and even central banks and enterprises from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Belt and Road countries) construct a transparent and reliable yield curve. Meanwhile, we should expeditiously introduce treasury bond futures to enable investors to effectively manage their interest rate risk, thereby enhancing the appeal of RMB products to international investors.
Currently, financial markets in Hong Kong and the Mainland have primarily achieved interconnectivity through a series of channels such as Wealth Management Connect, Stock Connect, Bond Connect and Swap Connect. While they have a wide coverage, there is still room for expansion. In the future, it is necessary to expeditiously include connectivity products such as spot commodities, options as well as green and low-carbon, which will attract more international investors. We should also explore the comprehensive alignment of rules and mechanisms so as to establish a more effective and collaborative framework for financial cooperation, thereby building a suitable platform for the country to establish an open economic system.
Intellectual property (“IP”) is of paramount importance to the development of innovation and technology (“I&T”) enterprises and new quality productive forces. The country’s establishment of an Intellectual Property Prosecution Office to provide specialized support last year suggests that Hong Kong should also leverage its own strengths to provide solid financial support for the development of IP at the financial level. In the past, banks generally did not recognize IP as collateral for financing. There is thus an urgent need for us to improve the certification and collateralization mechanisms for IP at this stage, steering more capital towards I&T enterprises as well as small and medium enterprises, thereby linking up the entire chain from research and development, pilot production to translation of research outcomes. In view of the rapidly changing situation in the Middle East, this proposal is conducive to attracting I&T enterprises previously operating in those regions to establish presence in Hong Kong instead.
The successful hosting of world-class summits such as the Global Financial Leaders’ Investment Summit and the Asian Financial Forum has also played a significant role in consolidating and enhancing Hong Kong’s status as an international financial centre. The financial sector’s experience in organizing these summits may also serve as inspirations for other sectors. At present, there is a need for the development of various industries in Hong Kong to transition from a single-factor mode to a hub of comprehensive resource integration. The hosting of different world-class summits will help enhance Hong Kong’s global influence and foster high-level cooperation with the rest of the world.
In order to build Hong Kong into an international hub for high-calibre talents, the Government launched the Top Talent Pass Scheme at the end of 2022. Together with other admission schemes for talents, more than 230 000 talents have been approved and arrived in Hong Kong over the past three years. However, the next move of our talent admission strategy should change from “massive stimulus” to “precise stimuli” tailored to the needs of specific sectors, attracting talents in the fields of I&T, green technology, and financial technology, etc. At the same time, consideration should be given to liaising with the relevant Mainland authorities to appropriately relax restrictions on the movement of foreign employees working in Hong Kong and Mainland employees working in the Greater Bay Area for specific sectors. This will facilitate exchange and collaboration at the institutional level, thereby promoting talent movement and offering them an opportunity to go global through their work in Hong Kong.
President, as Hong Kong is formulating its first five-year plan, it is essential for the Government to make a better top-level design, define its self-positioning, and promote deep integration and contribution of various sectors of Hong Kong society to the overall development of the country.
I so submit. Thank you.