ASEAN, Hong Kong seek closer economic cooperation

Chief Executive of China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Leung Chun-ying expressed its strong interest to develop mutually beneficial economic relations with Association of South East Asian Nations ( ASEAN) when he met with ASEAN Secretary General Le Luong Minh on Thursday.

Leung said that ASEAN's economic dynamism presents tremendous opportunity for both sides to expand trade, investment and services linkages.

ASEAN secretary-general appreciated Hong Kong's keen interest in furthering relations with ASEAN within the framework of One- China policy.

Both sides noted the continued growth and expansion of economic relations between ASEAN and Hong Kong in recent years, with total trade volume amounting to 99.4 billion U.S. dollars in 2014.

ASEAN as a group is Hong Kong's second largest trading partner. Hong Kong's investment flow to ASEAN in 2014 recorded an all-time high of 9.5 billion U.S. dollars.

In welcoming the progress made in the negotiations of the ASEAN- HKSAR Free Trade Agreement, Minh and Leung expressed hope that the talks could be concluded in 2016.

Leung also conveyed that Hong Kong could offer advantages of the "one country, two systems" model to serve as a connector between ASEAN and China's mainland.

He added that Hong Kong is keen in exploring cooperation with ASEAN in other areas such as arts, culture and people-to-people exchanges.

During the meeting held at the ASEAN Secretariat here, Minh also briefed the chief executive on recent developments in ASEAN, including preparations for the formal establishment of ASEAN Community at the end of this year.

He further conveyed that ASEAN is finalizing its vision for the next 10 years which will be adopted later this year. Endi