Chan bullish about BRI green finance

There will be more green infrastructure projects in the Belt and Road Initiative and Hong Kong can make its own unique contribution by bringing in investments for them, Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said ahead of the two-day Belt and Road Summit which opens Wednesday.

The financial hub is a leader in the green finance market in Asia, with more than one-third of the total green and sustainability bonds issuance dealt in the SAR, Chan said in his blog yesterday. And it is estimated that Asia would require US$66 trillion (HK$514.8 trillion) of climate investment in the coming three decades, he said.

In terms of professional services, he noted that Hong Kong has a great advantage in providing the necessary engineering, architectural, financial advisory, accounting, and legal services to support the infrastructure projects under the initiative.

The average annual trade by value between China and the participating countries of the BRI has doubled to US$2 trillion last year since its launch in 2013 with a compound average growth rate of 8 percent, the financial secretary added.