Hong Kong’s Chief Executive Mrs Carrie Lam at the WEF Annual Meeting 2020 in Davos

On January 21-23, 2020, the Chief Executive, Mrs Carrie Lam, led a top-level delegation to the WEF Annual Meeting in Davos to meet global political, business and media leaders. It was the largest and most high-powered Hong Kong delegation to Davos to date.

The highlight of the delegation’s appearance in Davos this year is Hong Kong Night, a flagship event co-organised by TeamHK, comprising the HKSAR Government, Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited, the Airport Authority Hong Kong, the MTR Corporation Limited, Swire Pacific and Far East Consortium International. At a fireside chat, Mrs Lam emphasised that the HKSAR Government will safeguard Hong Kong’s fundamentals, including the rule of law, and expressed her full confidence in the city’s future. The event also included three panel discussions, with topics covering the global capital market, trade and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and expert speakers from different sectors. The Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, Mr Edward Yau, spoke on one of the panels to share his insights on Hong Kong’s future development opportunities. As a WEF affiliated event, Hong Kong Night was graced and addressed by the Founder and Executive Chairman of WEF, Professor Klaus Schwab.

On WEF’s invitation, Mrs Lam had a one-on-one session on the WEF stage with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria on January 22, 2020. She spoke on Hong Kong’s preparedness and its robust and vigilant system of governance to deal with the spread of the novel coronavirus and the social unrest in the city. On the political situation in Hong Kong, Ms Lam pointed out that the preservation of the rule of law and the “one country, two systems” principle was at the heart of the government efforts to ensure stability and prosperity for the people in Hong Kong.

Mrs Lam also attended the WEF session “Expanding Asia's Technology Leadership” as a speaker, pointing out that Asia was emerging as an important region for innovation and technology (I&T) with a number of top I&T enterprises and universities in the region. Indeed, Hong Kong universities are ranked in the global top 100, providing Hong Kong with a large pool of research talent and great potential in I&T development. About HK$100 billion has been allocated by the current-term Government for I&T, including the establishment of two world-class research clusters specialising in healthcare technologies and artificial intelligence and robotics technologies at the Hong Kong Science Park, with a view to building Hong Kong as an international I&T centre.

Mrs Lam met with the Prime Minister of Singapore and the Prime Minister of Luxembourg to brief them the latest situation in Hong Kong. Mrs Lam said that Hong Kong experienced an unprecedented challenge last year, but with its solid foundation, she expressed confidence that Hong Kong was capable of overcoming the current difficulties. Accompanied by Mr Yau, Mrs Lam also met with the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Mr Mark Rutte. Ms Lam said she was pleased to note that the regulators of the two places signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on mutual recognition of funds arrangement last year and looked forward to enhancing co-operation in financial services and others areas such as design and arts and culture. She also met with Federal Councillor and Head of the Federal Department of Finance of Switzerland, Mr Ueli Maurer. She said that since their witnessing two years ago of the signing of the three MOUs between Hong Kong and Switzerland to strengthen collaboration in financial markets, fintech and promotion of private wealth management, there had been steady progress in co-operation between the two financial centres.

At the meeting with the Managing Director of the IMF, Ms Kristalina Georgieva, Mrs Lam reaffirmed IMF that Hong Kong's prudent monetary policies and ample buffers would enable the city to meet economic challenges and maintain financial stability. They also exchanged views on the global economic outlook and challenges faced by different regions.

Mrs Lam met several leaders from various sectors, including the Chairman of the Japan External Trade Organization, Mr Nobuhiko Sasaki; the Chairman of Prudential, Mr Paul Manduca; the Chairman of the Julius Baer Group, Mr Romeo Lacher, and the Chief Executive Officer of Julius Baer, Mr Philipp Rickenbacher; and the Chairman of Vista Equity Partners, Mr Robert Smith. Ms Lam exchanged views with them on such areas as the global economic landscape, development of the financial and monetary markets and fintech. She also reiterated that the recent social incidents had not eroded Hong Kong's strengths and said she hopes they would continue to place their confidence in Hong Kong.