Officials of the central government and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government pose for a group photo at the government complex on Monday as a national delegation began a series of talks on Hong Kong’s opportunities in the context of the nation’s latest development blueprint. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

Central government officials highlighted Hong Kong's great potential in finance, innovation and technology on Monday, urging the city to make full use of its advantages and play a bigger role in the country's "dual circulation" strategy of boosting internal consumption and external trade.

Officials from Beijing made their remarks on day one of their visit to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region as they briefed local government officials and lawmakers on the country's 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) and answered questions about the blueprint.

Hu Zhaohui, deputy director of the Department of Development Planning of the National Development and Reform Commission, said the nation will further strengthen Hong Kong's roles as a global offshore renminbi business hub and an international asset management and risk management center

Hu Zhaohui, deputy director of the Department of Development Planning of the National Development and Reform Commission, said the nation will further strengthen Hong Kong's roles as a global offshore renminbi business hub and an international asset management and risk management center, adding that the nation will expand interconnections between Chinese mainland and Hong Kong financial markets.

Under the 14th Five-Year Plan, the nation will enhance its capacity to use foreign capital, Hu said. He welcomed more overseas companies, including those from Hong Kong, to participate in the national development and to support mainland enterprises' overseas endeavors to achieve mutual development.

Speaking at the same seminar on Monday, Zhou Chengjun, director of the People's Bank of China's Finance Research Institute, said the city is well-positioned to be the asset management center and risk management center for renminbi assets.

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As a global financial hub with close bonds with Southeast Asian markets and those involved in the Belt and Road Initiative, Hong Kong is capable of playing a more crucial role in the process of the renminbi's internationalization, as well as in the external trade and business in the nation's "dual circulation" development paradigm, Zhou said.

Providing global investors with a well-established foreign exchange market, including different hedging tools between the renminbi and other currencies, is a key issue that the city should look into, said Zhou Chengjun, director of the People's Bank of China's Finance Research Institute

Providing global investors with a well-established foreign exchange market, including different hedging tools between the renminbi and other currencies, is a key issue that the city should look into, he added.

Zhou called on the SAR government to formulate a mechanism to carry out the financial roles that the national five-year plan has assigned to the city.

Regarding innovation and technology, Hong Kong has a solid research basis to develop into an international innovation and technology hub, Hu noted, saying that the central government will speed up construction of the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Innovation and Technology Park, and carry out more measures to facilitate the exchange of talent, and the settlement of scientific research funds and facilities in the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

With strengths in scientific research and professional producer services, Hong Kong could help the country, which is facing a bottleneck in core technology, to address its problems and forge the city's own development, Hu said.

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The country will support Hong Kong's further development in inno-tech mainly in four aspects, including encouraging scientific research institutions, technology enterprises and high-tech industrial parks from the Chinese mainland to set up research organizations in Hong Kong, said Huang Shengbiao, deputy director-general of the Department of Research Commercialization and Regional Innovation under the Ministry of Science and Technology.

The ministry will also further strengthen mainland-Hong Kong cooperation in key sci-tech areas, such as artificial intelligence, biomedical technology and fintech, Huang said.

Contact the writers at chloexu@chinadailyhk.com