CE wraps up 'fruitful' Central Asia visit
Chief Executive John Lee on Friday expressed confidence that Hong Kong and Uzbekistan will further advance their "win-win cooperation" as he concluded his week-long Central Asia trip. Speaking on the final day of his visit to the Uzbek capital, Tashkent, Lee described his trip to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan as fruitful, noting achievements have been secured in eight areas. These include the establishment of high-level contacts and ties between the SAR government and the governments of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, with the respective sides reaching consensus on cooperation across multiple areas, he said. Lee added that a total of 96 cooperation agreements and memoranda of understanding, involving investments exceeding US$1.65 billion, had been reached during his visit. Before returning to Hong Kong on Friday night, Lee attended a business exchange event and met again with the Prime Minister of Uzbekistan, Abdulla Aripov. Lee said he looked forward to strengthening co-operation between the two places and laying a solid foundation in areas that include capital markets connectivity, infrastructure financing and green finance. At a subsequent dinner hosted by Aripov, the CE thanked the government of Uzbekistan for making arrangements for his visit, saying he was confident that the two places would open up a new chapter of mutual benefits and win-win cooperation. Earlier in the day, Lee attended a luncheon hosted by the Chinese Ambassador to Uzbekistan, Yu Jun. There, he expressed gratitude to the Chinese Embassy for its continued support and for making arrangements for the visit. Lee also visited the Center for Islamic Civilization – the country’s largest cultural, scientific, and educational complex – to learn about local efforts in cultural preservation, academic research and education promotion. During the visit, he noted that Hong Kong and Uzbekistan could further strengthen cooperation in arts and culture, people-to-people exchanges and museum collaboration. Edited by Edmond Fong