Officials from Hong Kong on visit to Austria and Switzerland

Financial Secretary at the World Economic Forum (WEF) 2023 Annual Meeting in Davos

The 53^rd WEF Annual Meeting from 16 to 20 January 2023 was a long-awaited event for business and political leaders worldwide. After more than two years, the Annual Meeting returned to its pre-pandemic format and scale with more than 2 700 business executives and state representatives from 130 countries joining worldwide. This edition marked a record-breaking attendance by finance ministers from more than 50 countries and regions, and among them, was the Financial Secretary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government, Mr Paul Chan, who spread the good news of Hong Kong’s return to the world stage. During the four-day event, Mr Chan met with a wide spectrum of political and business leaders, including ministers from Thailand, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia, heads of international and regional organisations as well as top executives from international and multinational companies, with a view to strengthening bilateral cooperation and updating them about Hong Kong’s favourable development prospects.

Mr Paul Chan holds a speech at a breakfast meeting “Hong Kong Perspectives: Connectivity in an Evolving World” co-organised by the HKSAR Government and the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited.

During a breakfast meeting with more than 70 business executives and media themed “Hong Kong Perspectives: Connectivity in an Evolving World” on 18 January 2023, Mr Chan explained that Hong Kong was embracing a new start as it returned to normalcy. Many new initiatives such as the setting up of the Office for Attracting Strategic Enterprises and the promulgation of Innovation and Technology Blueprint showed that Hong Kong was leveraging its comeback for reinvention.

Deputy Secretary for Justice fostered ties with UN

The Deputy Secretary for Justice, Mr Cheung Kwok-kwan (second left), met with the Secretary of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), Ms Anna Joubin-Bret (second right), and UNCITRAL’s senior officers in Vienna to discuss further collaboration between the two sides.

Vienna is renowned for hosting important headquarters of international organisations, such as the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL). On 7 March 2023, the Deputy Secretary for Justice, Mr Cheung Kwok-kwan, led a delegation from the Department of Justice of the HKSAR Government to meet with representatives from UNCITRAL to strengthen cooperation and to update them on the legal developments in Hong Kong. During the meeting, both sides agreed that the 5^th edition of the Asia Pacific Judicial Summit will take place in Hong Kong from 6 to 7 November 2023, which will consolidate Hong Kong’s position as a centre for international legal and dispute resolution services in the Asia-Pacific region.

Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry to meet top players from Swiss technology sector

The Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry, Professor Sun Dong (first left), visited ETH Zurich in Switzerland on 26 April 2023 and toured the Multi-Scale Robotics Laboratory.

The Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry, Professor Sun Dong, led a delegation to visit top-notch companies from the biotechnological and pharmaceutical sector in Switzerland from 26 to 28 April 2023. During his three-day visit with stops in Zurich, Basel, Bern, Lausanne and Geneva, he met with a wide range of companies and institutions to revive and forge new cooperations and to introduce Hong Kong’s competitive advantages and key prospects in the I&T sector. Apart from meeting companies such as Roche, Novartis and Oculis, the delegation also visited high-ranking international universities such as ETH Zurich and École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne.

The Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry, Professor Sun Dong (first left) witnessed the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Hong Kong Exporters’ Association and PALEXPO SA in Geneva, Switzerland on 28 April 2023.

On 28 April 2023, Professor Sun Dong hosted a reception at the 48th International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva (Geneva Inventions). Geneva Inventions is the world’s largest event exclusively devoted to inventions showcased for the first time. A strong delegation of close to 500 representatives from Hong Kong brought a record high of almost 300 inventions to the exhibition this year. The Hong Kong delegation achieved outstanding results at the Geneva Inventions this year, winning a record number of Grand and Special prizes, and Gold Medals with Congratulations of Jury. During the reception, the organiser of the exhibition, Palexpo SA and the Hong Kong Exporters’ Association signed a Memorandum of Understanding for hosting the Asia Competition and Exhibition of Innovations and Inventions in Hong Kong in December this year, providing yet another unique platform for inventors and innovators in Asia to showcase their ideas, exchange knowledge, and network.