Chief Executive John Lee attended the second session of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders' Meeting in Bangkok, Thailand, on Saturday morning.

At the meeting, Mr Lee said Hong Kong actively seeks early accession to the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership to add momentum to the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific agenda.

He and leaders of other APEC member economies endorsed the Bangkok Goals on Bio-Circular-Green Economy to advance inclusive and sustainable growth in the region.

In the morning, Mr Lee met President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam Nguyen Xuan Phuc and welcomed enterprises from Vietnam to develop in Hong Kong.

During the afternoon, Mr Lee met Thai Deputy Prime Minister & Minister of Energy Supattanapong Punmeechaow and exchanged views on matters of mutual interest such as further strengthening the economic, trade and investment co-operation and people-to-people exchanges between Hong Kong and Thailand.

In the evening, he had dinner with a Hong Kong business delegation and Thai business leaders.

Mr Lee said: “Hong Kong and Thailand have long been close partners. Our bilateral trade in goods grew more than 18%, year-on-year, last year, reaching US$20.6 billion. That made Thailand Hong Kong's fourth-largest trading partner among ASEAN member states.”

Aside from stressing that Hong Kong is back onstage and committed to pursuing collaboration and mutually rewarding economic development with other economies, the Chief Executive made it clear that Hong Kong will strive to help Thai businesses find opportunities in the city and the Mainland.