Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu met with Indonesian President Joko Widodo and the Secretary-General of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on Tuesday to exchange views on strengthening Hong Kong's connections with Indonesia and ASEAN member states.
Lee and his delegation arrived in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, from Singapore on Tuesday morning. It is the second stop of his visits to ASEAN countries.
Lee thanked Widodo during the meeting for Indonesia supporting Hong Kong's accession request to the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and expressed his hope for further strengthening cooperation between Hong Kong and Indonesia in trade, investment, finance, innovation and technology as well as culture and tourism.
He added that Hong Kong and Indonesia have always maintained close bilateral trade and investment relations, with Hong Kong being a top-three source of foreign investment of Indonesia.
The Hong Kong leader then attended a luncheon hosted by Zhou Kan, the Charge d'Affaires ad Interim and Minister of the Chinese Embassy in Indonesia.
In the afternoon, Lee met with the Secretary-General of ASEAN, Kao Kim Hourn, and stated that Hong Kong attaches great importance to its close trade and economic ties with ASEAN. He noted that ASEAN has long been the city's second-largest trading partner, with a total merchandise trade reaching an all-time high of US$165 billion last year.
He also expressed his gratitude to ASEAN member states for supporting Hong Kong to join the RCEP, and looked forward to maintaining communication with the ASEAN Secretariat on relevant issues.
Lee will continue visiting Jakarta on Wednesday, before departing for Malaysia on July 27 and returning to Hong Kong on July 29.
