The Second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation

The second Belt and Road Forum (the Forum) for International Cooperation was held in Beijing from 25 to 27 April, drawing over 6,000 participants from more than 150 countries and 92 international organisations.

Under the theme of "Belt and Road Cooperation: Shaping a Brighter Shared Future", development policy co-ordination, infrastructure connectivity, sustainable development and other topics of common interest were discussed with more than 280 concrete results reached at the Forum.

The Forum included the opening ceremony, high-level meeting, the leaders' roundtable, 12 thematic forums (focusing on policy, infrastructure, trade, financial and people-to-people connectivity, think-tank exchanges, clean silk road, digital silk road, green silk road, silk road of innovation, sub-national cooperation, and economic and trade cooperation zone promotion), and the CEO Conference.

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government attached great importance to and actively participated at the Forum. The HKSAR delegation, led by the Chief Executive, Mrs Carrie Lam, comprised closed to 70 senior government officials and members from various sectors of Hong Kong, including the political, business, professional services, innovation and technology, the academia as well as public and community services etc. They participated at various thematic forums, the CEO Conference, the opening ceremony and the high-level meeting. Through in-depth exchanges at the Forum, Hong Kong’s role and position as the prime platform and a key link for the Belt and Road Initiative was highlighted and enhanced, stepping up Hong Kong’s integration into the national development. More details can be found in the following press releases-

At the Forum, the Chief Executive delivered keynote speeches at the opening sessions of the thematic forums on sub-national co-operation and financial connectivity respectively. At the thematic forum on sub-national co-operation, there was a dedicated Hong Kong session themed "Belt and Road: Hong Kong IN". The Chief Executive delivered opening remarks at the session, followed by a panel discussion moderated by Mrs Laura M Cha, Chairman of the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited. Six HKSAR delegates from sectors of finance and investment, legal and dispute resolution services, business and trade, risk management, infrastructure facilities as well as culture spoke as panelists, and shared their insights on Hong Kong’s strengths as the Belt and Road hub.

Principal Officials of the HKSAR Government including the Secretary for Justice (SJ), the Secretary for Innovation and Technology (S for IT), and the Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development (SCED) delivered speeches at the thematic forums on policy co-ordination, silk road of innovation, economic and trade co-operation zone promotion respectively. SCED also moderated the second discussion session of the thematic forum on unimpeded trade. The relevant speeches can be found below -

HKSAR delegates also moderated or spoke at other thematic forums and the CEO Conference, sharing with other Forum participants on Hong Kong's contributions in respect of promoting global connectivity and win-win development, and our work in taking forward the Belt and Road Initiative.

The second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation was a key diplomatic event of our country for 2019, and the highest level international event on the Belt and Road Initiative. President Xi attended and delivered a keynote speech at the opening ceremony, chaired the leaders’ roundtable and introduced a list of deliverables at the press conference. Press releases on / speeches by President Xi and other Chinese national leaders at the Forum can be found below-

(1) Opening Ceremony (26 April)

(2) High-level Meeting (26 April)

Vice-premier Han Zheng attends Belt and Road high-level meeting (Press Release)

(3) Leaders’ Roundtable (27 April)

(4) Press Conference (27 April)