The Civil Service College has launched the "Expert Round Table for Economic Development" seminar series in collaboration with the Hong Kong Academy of Finance (AoF). The inaugural seminar, which covered the topic of "Leveraging Hong Kong's Competitive Edge as an International Financial Centre", took place today (December 16) in the Civil Service College at the North Point Government Offices.

     Addressing the seminar, the Secretary for the Civil Service, Mr Patrick Nip, said that this is the first important seminar series launched after the establishment of the Civil Service College. As the first collaboration with the AoF, the seminar series brings together experts from the financial and related sectors to share insights with civil service colleagues about the economy's future, and the opportunities and challenges facing Hong Kong as an international financial centre.

     Mr Nip said that Hong Kong's economic prosperity depends very much on its continued success in maintaining the status as an international financial centre. It is incumbent for Hong Kong to leverage the Central Government's policies in support of Hong Kong, so that Hong Kong can give full play to its unique strengths and bring continuous impetus to the economy. As the backbone of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, civil servants shall keep learning and move ahead with the times. The Civil Service College will further enhance training for civil servants in terms of both quality and quantity, and strengthen partnership with renowned institutions in Hong Kong, the Mainland and other parts of the world, including the AoF, to develop training programmes to nurture more leaders for the civil service.

     Mr Nip also took the opportunity to appeal to civil servant colleagues to cast their vote on Sunday (December 19), the polling day of the Legislative Council General Election, and join hands to build a better future for Hong Kong.

     The seminar today was attended by around 120 civil servants in the directorate as well as middle and senior ranks. The seminar started off with a talk by the Executive Director (External) of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, Mr Darryl Chan, on the recent developments in Hong Kong's financial services industry, followed by an expert panel discussion. Apart from the Chief Executive Officer of the AoF, Mr Kwok Kwok-chuen, who served as the moderator, the other expert speakers included the Head of Listing of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited, Ms Bonnie Chan; Co-Chairman and Co-Chief Investment Officer of Value Partners Group Mr Cheah Cheng-hye; Deputy Chief Executive of Bank of China (Hong Kong) Mrs Ann Kung; and the Chairman of the Hong Kong Federation of Insurers and Chief Executive Officer of HSBC Life (International), Mr Edward Moncreiffe.

Ends/Thursday, December 16, 2021
Issued at HKT 18:08

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