The Chief Executive, Mrs Carrie Lam, met the acting Mayor of Beijing, Mr Chen Jining, at Government House this afternoon (November 27).

     Mrs Lam welcomed Mr Chen's first visit to Hong Kong with his delegation in his new capacity and said she looked forward to officiating at the opening ceremony of the 21st Beijing-Hong Kong Economic Cooperation Symposium with him tomorrow (November 28). She said that Hong Kong and Beijing have long enjoyed strong ties with close collaboration between the governments, enterprises, education sectors and non-government organisations over the years. She also expressed gratitude to the Beijing Municipal Government for its staunch support for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government to hold successfully the Exhibition in Celebration of the 20th Anniversary of the Return of Hong Kong to the Motherland at the National Museum of China and a series of other celebration events in the past months.

     Noting that Hong Kong is an international financial, trading and shipping hub and has the edge in professional services, innovation and technology and creative industries, while Beijing is the centre for politics, culture, international exchanges and innovation and technology, Mrs Lam said she believed that both places could give full play to their own strengths to complement each other for mutual benefits.

     She expressed the hope that Hong Kong and Beijing would enhance exchanges and co-operation in areas ranging from innovation and technology to creative industries, city management, youth development and education, and that the Beijing Municipal Government would continue to support the implementation of various measures rolled out by relevant authorities of the Central Government to assist Hong Kong people to study, work and live in the Mainland. She also took the opportunity to congratulate Beijing on becoming the first city to host both the Summer Olympics and the Winter Olympics and wished the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing a great success.

Ends/Monday, November 27, 2017
Issued at HKT 16:22

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