Globally recognized

Hong Kong's economic freedom and competitiveness continued to be well recognized by international institutions, according to the report.

The International Monetary Fund affirmed Hong Kong's position as a major international financial center.

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development said that Hong Kong will remain an important financial hub in Asia and a gateway to investment in the Chinese mainland, thanks to a favorable tax regime, simple listing process, absence of capital controls and a good regulatory framework.

Canada's Fraser Institute ranked Hong Kong as the world's freest economy in the Economic Freedom of the World 2021 Annual Report. The Global Competitiveness Report published by the World Economic Forum in 2019 ranked Hong Kong third globally, while the World Competitiveness Yearbook 2021 published by the International Institute for Management Development ranked Hong Kong seventh globally, the report noted.

The report said that foreign businesses remain generally confident about Hong Kong's business environment as chambers of commerce from the United States, Britain, Australia and Malaysia all agree that Hong Kong remains an ideal place for international business.

Bright future

Looking ahead, the report believes Hong Kong's financial industry will be able to explore more opportunities amid the development of the whole country.

The report stressed that the 14th Five-Year Plan for national socio-economic development promotes high-quality development and aims to accelerate the establishment of a new development pattern featuring dual circulation, which takes the domestic market as the mainstay while enabling the domestic and international markets to interact positively with each other.

"Now the local epidemic situation has stabilized, and the national 14th Five-Year Plan is bringing countless new opportunities to Hong Kong," Chan said at the press conference.

"We will continue to serve as the gateway connecting our country and the rest of the world and perform the functions of a 'super-connector,' a high value-added services platform, an international talent and capital pool and more, and also be an internationally preferred place of doing business," he said.