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The Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Professor K C Chan, today (July 16) received 28 Shanghai post-secondary students under the Pilot Scheme for Cross-border Study Tour for Post-secondary Financial Talents.
Professor Chan said, "Financial talents' training and exchange is one of the crucial areas in the development of financial centres. The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government would like to thank the Shanghai Municipal Government Financial Services Office, the Shanghai Municipal Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office and other organisations in Shanghai and Hong Kong for their support in arranging and providing valuable visit and attachment opportunities for over 50 students from Hong Kong and Shanghai."
He said he was glad to see that the students participating in the exchange programme last year enjoyed their visit and found the exchange programme rewarding. They fully treasured the learning opportunities to enhance their knowledge about the financial systems in the two places, and to make new acquaintances to better understand others' cultures, laying a sound foundation for promoting future Shanghai-Hong Kong financial co-operation.
Professor Chan encouraged the Shanghai students to grasp this precious opportunity to learn more about Hong Kong's financial system, financial institutions and culture as well as cross-border work. He said he believed this would help in their career development and their future co-operation with Hong Kong's financial talents to contribute to our country's financial reform.
The students participating in the scheme come from seven universities in Shanghai and will stay in Hong Kong for four weeks. They have visited the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited and the Office of the Commissioner of Insurance. Today they were briefed on the securities and futures market in Hong Kong and Hong Kong as a global financial centre as well as the work of the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau (FSTB) by representatives from the Securities and Futures Commission and the FSTB respectively.
Later on, they will join a visit and attachment programme in local financial enterprises.
The scheme is a bilateral exchange programme. A group of 28 Hong Kong post-secondary financial students under the scheme visited Shanghai in June. They were received by the Deputy Secretary-General of the Shanghai Municipal People's Government, Mr Jin Xingming. The students are now engaging in their four-week work attachment programme with financial enterprises in Shanghai, and will return to Hong Kong this Sunday (July 21).
Under the Memorandum of Understanding Concerning Advancing Hong Kong-Shanghai Financial Co-operation signed by Hong Kong and Shanghai in 2010, the FSTB, with the support of the Shanghai Municipal Government Financial Services Office, launched the scheme in 2012. Building on the success of the inaugural tour last year, in which a total of 44 students from Hong Kong and Shanghai participated, another study tour under the scheme is being held in 2013 with a view to further promoting interaction and exchange among aspiring financial talents in Hong Kong and the Mainland.
Ends/Tuesday, July 16, 2013
Issued at HKT 18:25
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