Chief Executive Carrie Lam today attended the opening ceremony of the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2019 in Hainan and met central ministry, province and city leaders.

The forum theme this year is "Shared Future, Concerted Action, Common Development".

Mrs Lam listened to the keynote speech delivered at the opening ceremony by the Premier Li Keqiang.

Premier Li said the country would broaden market access for investment from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, further open sectors such as finance, professional services and high-end manufacturing, and continue to roll out policy initiatives to facilitate the movement of Hong Kong, Macau and Mainland people as well as the flow of factors of production.

Mrs Lam said these measures will be welcomed by Hong Kong enterprises and various professional sectors and show once again the Central Government's support for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

She also said she believed these measures will further enhance Hong Kong's integration into the overall development of the country.

After the opening ceremony, Mrs Lam met the State Council’s State-owned Assets Supervision & Administration Commission Chairman Xiao Yaqing.

Mrs Lam expressed her gratitude to the commission for its staunch support for Hong Kong to participate in the Belt & Road Initiative.

It includes the co-organisation with the HKSAR Government of various activities regularly to foster the establishment of partnership between different trades, the state-owned enterprises (SoEs) and the professional services sector of Hong Kong, its encouragement of participation by SoEs in the capacity building initiatives of the HKSAR Government for countries along the Belt & Road, and its proactive participation in the annual Belt & Road Summit organised by the HKSAR Government.

She said she hoped to maintain close co-operation with the commission to make contributions in promoting the Belt & Road Initiative.

In the afternoon, Mrs Lam met Hebei Province Governor Xu Qin.

She said she hopes Hong Kong may participate in the Xiongan New Area’s development and contribute to it.

She welcomed the news that Mr Xu will lead a delegation to visit Hong Kong next month, and said she believes the visit would help explore more areas for co-operation between the two places.

Mrs Lam also met CPC Chongqing Municipal Committee Deputy Party Secretary Ren Xuefeng.

She said Chongqing is a vital strategic location in the Western Development Programme and a main connecting point of the Belt & Road and the Yangtze River economic zone.

As an international maritime centre and a regional logistics hub, Hong Kong is able to provide support services to link up the networks of the two places, so they can both tap into opportunities of the Belt & Road Initiative, she added.

After the meeting, Mrs Lam joined the Women Roundtable themed “The Power of Women & the Value of Balance” to discuss women's potential and the promotion of women’s development.

Mrs Lam said she, as the first female Chief Executive of the HKSAR, has a huge and important responsibility in advancing women's development.

She briefed the participants on the Government’s measures to foster women's development, including efforts to unleash the female labour force, allowing them to give full play to their potential.

In the evening, Mrs Lam joined “The Night of Hainan”, a thematic dinner hosted by the Boao Forum for Asia.

After arriving in Boao yesterday, Mrs Lam also attended a dinner hosted by Premier Li and met Hong Kong student volunteers.