(Reuters) – Hong Kong leader John Lee pitched the city’s connection with China in an address to some of the world’s top financial executives, as he pushes to rebuild the city’s image as a major financial hub that has been dented by strict COVID-19 curbs.
Chief Executive Lee told the Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s Global Financial Leaders’ Investment Summit on Wednesday the city would continue working towards lifting COVID restrictions.
Some of the world’s biggest banking bosses, including Goldman Sachs’ David Solomon and Morgan Stanley’s James Gorman, are in Hong Kong for the first time in almost three years.
“Hong Kong remains the only place in the world where the global advantage and the China advantage come together in a single city,” Lee said.
“This unique convergence makes Hong Kong the irreplaceable connection between the mainland and the rest of the world,” Lee added at the summit.
He also said that Hong Kong was working to attract top talent to offset a major brain drain seen in the past three years due to the strict coronavirus rules.
“As have many other major cities worldwide, Hong Kong has been through ups and downs over the years but our resilience remains remarkably unmatched,” he told the summit.
(Reporting by Scott Murdoch in Sydney; Editing by Himani Sarkar)
