Hong Kong Business News

Secretary for Commerce & Economic Development Algernon Yau attended a plenary session of the 34th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Ministerial Meeting in the US city of San Francisco yesterday.

At the plenary session themed “Enabling an innovative environment for a sustainable future & affirming an equitable & inclusive future for all”, Mr Yau said that APEC should further strengthen co-operation on supply chain connectivity to promote economic resilience against future shocks.

“Pandemics, climate change and natural disasters have all exposed the existing vulnerabilities and manifested the need for co-operation to ensure a stable and resilient global supply chain,” he remarked.

Mr Yau also called for accelerating implementation of the APEC Internet & Digital Economy Roadmap in a comprehensive manner, with bridging the digital divide at the top of the regional body’s digital agenda.

The commerce chief outlined Hong Kong’s measures to ramp up support to empower micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and groups with untapped economic potential to leverage the digital economy.

He highlighted the US$64 million (HK$500 million) Digital Transformation Support Pilot Programme and an inter-departmental E-commerce Development Task Force as the Government’s initiatives to empower MSMEs.

As a leading regional economic forum, APEC is ideally positioned to catalyse international co-operation on e-commerce development and digital inclusion, he added.

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