Hong Kong leader John Lee shrugs off absence of at least 3 top bankers from key financial summit, insists city ‘full of vigour and energy’
- Chief executive touts raft of events city will host in coming two weeks, including Hong Kong Sevens and an Asian global health summit
- Lee says economic activities are returning and unemployment rate has remained low despite ongoing recession
Hong Kong leader John Lee Ka-chiu has shrugged off concerns over at least three top bankers pulling out of the city’s first mega financial summit since the Covid-19 pandemic began, as he struck a cautiously optimistic tone on a return to normality.
Speaking to the press before his weekly Executive Council meeting, the chief executive noted that two bankers had pulled out of the three-day event – which began on Tuesday – after coming down with Covid-19, while a third had changed his schedule and would not visit Asia.
“It’s just a small number,” Lee stressed. “What we have seen now is that more than 200 people will attend and that is within our expectation.”
Lee went on to list a raft of events the city would host in the next two weeks, including the Hong Kong Sevens weekend rugby tournament, as well as an Asian global health summit to be held on November 10 and 11.
“Hong Kong is full of vigour and energy,” he said, adding the government was committed to hosting more activities while reconnecting the city with the outside world as much as possible amid the pandemic.
The Global Financial Leaders’ Investment Summit is seen as a vote of confidence in Hong Kong’s reopening, with the city only recently emerging from Covid’s shadow after nearly three years of being closed off from the world amid strict travel curbs.