Hong Kong's Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Professor K C Chan is paying a four-day official visit to Brussels and London from 4 until 7 May.

Professor Chan is meeting with finance officials and prominent business executives to exchange views with them on measures to deal with the global financial crisis as well as financial market regulatory reform.  He is also promoting Hong Kong as an international financial centre.

During his visit to Brussels on 4 and 5 May, Professor Chan called on Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister, Mr Didier Reynders; Governor of National Bank of Belgium, Mr Guy Quaden; European Commissioner for Taxation and Customs Union, Mr Laszlo Kovacs; and Chairman of the Management Committee, Banking, Finance and Insurance Commission, Mr Jean-Paul Servais.

Hong Kong to benefit from Renminbi breakthrough

On Tuesday 5 May Professor Chan also delivered a keynote speech at a luncheon hosted by the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, Brussels and the Belgium-Hong Kong Society. Professor Chan said the Central Government has announced a pilot scheme for using renminbi for cross-border trade settlements, strengthening Hong Kong's role as the financial gateway to China.
 
"Both our financial industry and trade between the two places will benefit immensely from this breakthrough," he said. "We will announce the implementation details as soon as they are finalised, and we will continue to work towards aligning our two financial systems to become a more efficient and low-risk corridor for investment into and out of the Mainland."
 
Meanwhile, he said the Hong Kong Government is working closely with other economies and the international financial community to respond to the global financial crisis in a "co-ordinated and mutually-reinforcing manner", with a view to reaching a consensus on a new financial architecture to better suit the globalised world.

Click to see the full text of Professor Chan's speech and photos of the luncheon on 5 May 2009.