This conference and forum is aiming at examining the responses to the Belt and Road Initiative, especially the responses from the academia, think tanks and relevant public institutions; and providing experts and scholars with the opportunity to learn more about the latest development of the relevant policies of the Initiative in the past three years and to promote deeper dialogues and cooperation with each other. The organizers invited experts, scholars and officials from Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and overseas, who have outstanding research achievements in the related fields of the Belt and Road Initiative to give speeches at the event. The two-day conference and forum attracted over 150 experts, scholars, and representatives of relevant institutions and groups.
The officiating guests of the opening ceremony of the international forum, which was held on 3 December, included Mr. LEI Haiqiu, Deputy Director of Department of Economic Affairs of the Liaison Office, the Central People's Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region; Professor Leonard K CHENG, President of Lingnan University; Mr. YANG Yong, Chairman and Chief Editor of Bauhinia Magazine, and Mr. HUANGPOU Xing, Vice-Chairman and Secretary-General of the Association of Chinese Culture of Hong Kong.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, President Leonard CHENG said that the Belt and Road Initiative was one of the most important national development strategies in recent years which had received great attention and recognition from the international community. President CHENG added, “If we can take advantage of the enormous energy and infrastructure capacity China has developed over the past decade, and use the capacity to support the advancement of industrialization, modernization and infrastructure development of the countries along the “Belt and Road”, I am confident that it will help stabilizing the current economic situation of the world and will lead the world economy out of the doldrums; the Belt and Road Initiative will also provide an excellent platform for the Hong Kong economy to return to its growing path.”
At the academic conference, speakers from Dalian, Beijing, Singapore, UK, Italy and Russia indicated that although the Belt and Road Initiative was facing the threat of political changes and terrorism at different regions, in general, the Initiative had provided opportunities in the areas of infrastructure, shipping and rail transport facilities. For Hong Kong, the increase in investment and financing, mergers and acquisitions, sales transactions, trade settlement, credit, credit guarantees and risk management opportunities in the financial industry were the most direct outcomes accelerated by the Initiative. Experts from Dalian and Guangzhou indicated that the meeting not only offered opportunities for others to explore Mainland officials’ and experts’ views on the Initiative, but also allowed them to learn about the new issues from the presentations delivered by foreign experts and scholars from Singapore, UK, Italy, Russia and the United States, which included: building industrial parks together with China, setting up joint standards of international law, exploring new opportunities in Europe and cooperating with the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) proposed by Russia. They expressed their appreciation for the efforts of the University to play the role of Hong Kong as a platform for economic, trade and academic exchanges between the East and the West. This conference and forum provided the experts and scholars with an academic platform to examine the Belt and Road Initiative and to discuss its challenges, and to cultivate possible solutions for boosting the world economy through the power of multinational and interdisciplinary collaboration.
The two-day conference and forum was supported by the Sunbase International (Holdings) Limited and the Chairman of the Group, Dr. Gunter GAO, who is also the Member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and the Chairman of the Association of Chinese Culture of Hong Kong.