SAR signing three Belt and Road projects worth US$450m

Hong Kong will sign three projects worth US$450 million (HK$3.51 billion) for the first time at the Belt and Road forum in Beijing, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said, as he led a 70-member delegation to the capital yesterday.

Representatives from more than 130 countries and over 30 international organizations will be attending the forum today and tomorrow, Lee said.

Lee said the delegation to the third Belt and Road forum is the strongest ever, compared to the two previous forums held in 2017 and 2019.

The delegation includes 11 top administration officials and 59 representatives from the political, business and cultural sectors and some from the scientific research industries, he said.

"The Hong Kong delegation will also have more speaking opportunities than ever," Lee said, adding there will be 10 large-scale events - an "entrepreneur conference," three high-level forums and six themed forums.

"There will be a special session on Hong Kong, showing the country attaches great importance to the SAR's role in the Belt and Road Initiative," Lee said.

"All 70 members of the SAR delegation will attend all 10 events and 16 of them will serve as speakers and hosts of the events."

"Hong Kong will sign the contracts of three projects the SAR introduced with a total value of more than US$450 million," he explained.

Lee added that the SAR is an "active participant, contributor and also beneficiary" of the Belt and Road Initiative, and the delegation will specify the advantages under the one country, two systems principle.

Meanwhile, the GX Foundation led by former chief executive Leung Chun-ying, will share its charitable achievements of helping over 5,000 cataract patients through free surgery in developing countries.

The two-day forum will be held at the China National Convention Center, with roads nearby having been sealed off and some buses diverted.

While the entrepreneur conference and a welcome dinner will be held today, President Xi Jinping will attend the forum tomorrow.

At the top of the invitation list to the forum, which will be overshadowed by the Israel-Hamas war, is Russia's President Vladimir Putin, on his first major trip since the Ukraine invasion threw his regime into international isolation.

Leaders have begun to pour into the Chinese capital for the gala marking a decade of the Belt and Road Initiative, a key project of Xi.