FS meets Spanish business leaders

Continuing his visit to Madrid, Spain, Financial Secretary Paul Chan yesterday spoke at a business lunch, met Spanish officials and visited local enterprises.

Delivering a keynote speech at a lunch with about 150 leaders from Spainâs business, financial, and innovation and technology sectors, Mr Chan stressed that Hong Kong has restored its global connections following the COVID-19 pandemic, and is eager to deepen co-operation with Spain to deliver mutual benefits.

With the advantages brought by âone country, two systemsâ, Hong Kong is solidifying its role as a super-connector, and welcomes Spanish enterprises to use the city as a springboard to tap into the vast markets of the Greater Bay Area, the Mainland, and Asia more broadly, he said.

He added that through its mutual access schemes with the Mainlandâs capital markets, Hong Kong provides a channel through which Spanish companies can easily attract funds.

Furthermore, as Hong Kongâs green standards are compatible with those of the European Union, green projects in Europe can leverage Hong Kong as a fund-raising platform. Mr Chan elaborated that Hong Kong can also collaborate with Spainâs tech ecosystem across key sectors such as artificial intelligence, biotechnology, fintech, and new energy and new materials.

In the afternoon, the finance chief met Spanish Secretary of State for Trade Amparo LÃ³pez Senovilla and briefed her on economic developments in Hong Kong. The two officials also held in-depth exchanges on the promotion of economic and trade co-operation and mutual investment.

Additionally, Mr Chan led a delegation of Hong Kong tech startups on a visit to IMPACT, a Spanish startup accelerator, for an exchange of views on entrepreneurial strategies in the innovation and technology sector. He and the delegation also visited the Spanish telecommunications company TelefÃ³nica to learn about its development strategies in 5G telecommunications, the Internet of Things and Web3.0.

The Financial Secretary was due to continue his stay in Madrid this morning before heading to London in the afternoon.