Hong Kong's Financial Secretary John Tsang said on Wednesday that the government will organize the inaugural Belt and Road Summit in May to explore the unique role that Hong Kong can play.
When delivering his Budget, Tsang said the summit will be jointly held by the Special Administrative Region government and Hong Kong Trade Development Council. "We shall invite key officials from the markets along the routes, representatives of international organizations and business sectors as well as experts in related trades to engage in in-depth exploration of cooperation opportunities and the unique role that Hong Kong can play."
The Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, put forward by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013, are aimed at boosting connectivity and common development along the ancient trade routes. He mentioned that he has asked Hong Kong Monetary Authority to establish an office to facilitate the financing of infrastructure projects and provide a platform for pooling the efforts of investors, banks and the financial sector to offer comprehensive financial services for various infrastructure projects.
The government will also seize the opportunity to issue the third sukuk or Islamic Bonds in a timely manner. In addition, Hong Kong will continue to discuss with the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the central government on Hong Kong's participation in AIIB as a non-sovereign territory, he said.
Talking of the cross-boundary financial services, Tsang said the government have discussed with relevant authorities of the central government the launch of the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect and the enhancement of the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect.
To attract more multinational and mainland enterprises to establish corporate treasury centers in Hong Kong, Tsang said, the government have introduced a bill into Legislative Council to allow, under specified conditions, interest deductions under profits tax for intra-group financing business of corporations and reduce profits tax of qualifying corporate treasury centres by 50 percent.
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