The city government on Tuesday said that during the meeting with Saudi Arabia’s finance minister Mohammed Al-Jadaan, Chan hailed the “encouraging progress” in expanding cooperation over the past two years and looked forward to boosting bilateral financial and business ties.
“Chan emphasised that Hong Kong, with its unique advantages under ‘one country, two systems’, serves as an international financial centre connecting the mainland and the world,” a government spokesman said, referring to the city’s governing principle.
“He welcomed Saudi Arabia’s capital and enterprises to utilise Hong Kong as a high-quality platform to expand into the mainland and the Asian markets.”
As political and business leaders gathered in Davos for the annual event, the city government said Chan, accompanied by Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Algernon Yau Ying-wah, aimed to explain the latest developments in Hong Kong and promote its new advantages and opportunities.
The finance minister on Monday also met Jeremy Allaire, CEO of stablecoin issuer Circle Internet Financial and Ori Goshen, co-CEO of AI company AI21 Labs.
Paul Chan aims to ‘clear up doubts about Hong Kong’ at Davos forum
Paul Chan aims to ‘clear up doubts about Hong Kong’ at Davos forum
Circle, founded in 2013 and headquartered in Boston, is the issuer of the world’s second-largest stablecoin, USD coin (USDC). It was reportedly planning to go public this year, marking a significant milestone in merging cryptocurrencies with traditional financial markets.
AI21 Labs is an Israeli generative AI start-up backed by Intel to compete against OpenAI and Anthropic, among other players. The Tel Aviv-based company, founded in 2017, recently secured several rounds of funding even amid the country’s current war with Gaza.
The finance minister told business leaders that Hong Kong was pressing ahead with developing digital assets in a “prudent and orderly manner”, according to the spokesman.
Chan also said authorities were consulting the public on regulating stablecoins to set up an appropriate regulatory framework and promote responsible and sustainable industry development.
He welcomed fiat-based stablecoin companies to set foot in Hong Kong to provide more innovative and convenient financial services to the community and called on AI companies to consider the city as a gateway to the Asian market.
‘Hong Kong is an ideal option for foreign investment despite market pressures’
‘Hong Kong is an ideal option for foreign investment despite market pressures’
Local authorities had already rolled out new rules requiring cryptocurrency exchanges to meet investor protection standards before the incident.
More than 2,000 people have come forward as victims in the case involving alleged losses of about HK$1.6 billion (US$204.5 million). The total number of arrests linked to the platform rose to 66 as of November, but no one has been charged yet.
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