Hong Kong officials participated in G20 Summit and United Nations congress

Keeping up with Hong Kong’s participation in international events, two cabinet members of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government went on a journey to Europe after their inauguration ceremony on July 1 – with the Financial Secretary Mr Paul Chan headed to Hamburg, and the Secretary for Justice Mr Rimsky Yuen visited Vienna.

Mr Chan attended the Group of Twenty (G20) Leaders' Summit in Hamburg, Germany, from July 7 to 8 as part of the delegation of the People's Republic of China. Under the topic "Shaping an Interconnected World", a wide range of issues were discussed, such as promoting sustainable development of global economy, improving international financial architecture, strengthening financial regulation, deepening international tax co-operation, driving economic growth through digitalisation as well as combating terrorist financing and money laundering. On July 6, Mr Chan held a meeting with the State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Finance of Germany, Dr Thomas Steffen to exchange views on global economic outlook and to strengthen economic and trade ties between Hong Kong and Germany. The Financial Secretary also met with the Minister of Economy and Finance of Italy, Mr Pier Carlo Padoan.

Also in early July, the Secretary for Justice Mr Rimsky Yuen visited Vienna, Austria, to join a congress hosted by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) and give a keynote speech at the session on "Creative international law-making in the international trade law context". Mr Yuen also met with officials and representatives of the legal and arbitration sectors to strengthen legal co-operation and exchanges between Hong Kong and Austria. He stressed that Hong Kong has a long-standing policy of promoting dispute resolution services and encouraging the use of other dispute resolution methods, including arbitration and mediation, to resolve civil and commercial disputes. Mr Yuen appealed for enhanced legal co-operation and exchanges in particular among legal profession bodies.