Foreign trips 'a chance to dispel rumors'

SAR government officials can help clarify rumors and misconceptions during foreign visits, said Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po, who met with political and business leaders during his trip to Paris that started on Thursday.

In a blog post yesterday, Chan said he had been promoting the SAR's advantages to the French leaders, who expressed "high interest in Hong Kong's latest developments and the opportunities in the Greater Bay Area."

He said people he met told him it was crucial for the SAR to actively reach out to friends from different sectors.

They believed Hong Kong would continue to be a land of opportunities if it fully leveraged its strengths and positioned itself correctly.

"Some of them also said Hong Kong remains vibrant, attractive, stable, safe and efficient as it was before the pandemic," Chan wrote.

He expects more SAR startups to take part in next year's VivaTech - a Parisian conference on innovation and startups - and invited the organizer to hold the event in Hong Kong as well.

Chan also met Theatre National de Chaillot director Rachid Ouramdane and encouraged the theater to come to Hong Kong on tour.

He said partnerships with foreign countries in organizing creative and cultural events would contribute to deepening exchanges and enriching the international dimension of Hong Kong's mega events, thereby attracting more tourists and injecting greater impetus into the economy.

Chan will today lead a delegation to San Francisco to share insights at the Bay to Bay Dialogue and the US-China High-Level Event on Subnational Climate Action, together with Guangdong and Macau officials.

"Hong Kong participants will share professional knowledge and practical experience in developing a green future at the two events," he said.