Director of Audit Leads Delegation to Visit Qinghai, Exploring Green Energy Initiatives and Collaboration Opportunities

Director of Audit leads delegation on duty visit to Qinghai

A six-member delegation led by the Director of Audit, Professor Nelson Lam, began a five-day duty visit to Qinghai on June 22. During the trip, the delegation met and exchanged views with officials of the Qinghai Provincial Government and the Audit Office of Qinghai Province, and visited local new energy-related facilities and organisations.

The delegation was first received by leaders of the Qinghai Provincial Government, including the Executive Vice Governor of Qinghai Province, Mr Zhang Jingang, who welcomed the Hong Kong delegation and introduced the green energy projects in Qinghai, highlighting the collaboration projects between Qinghai and Guangdong Provinces under the National 15th Five-Year Plan. Professor Lam expressed his gratitude for the full support and invitation from the Auditor General of the National Audit Office of the People's Republic of China, Mr Hou Kai, and for the co-ordination and thoughtful arrangements of the Qinghai Provincial Government and the Audit Office of Qinghai Province for this trip, which afforded the delegation the chance to visit Qinghai - the source of the nation's three great rivers and the core hub of the national base of important new energy industries. He said he looks forward to further sharing the gains of this trip with peers in Hong Kong in the future. He also stated that in this year that marks the beginning of the National 15th Five-Year Plan, the Audit Commission hopes to leverage the opportunity to closely interact with provinces and cities in various ways to assimilate the visions, advanced techniques and good practices in audit on the Mainland. This would put the Commission in a position to continuously hone its work and better integrate into and serve overall national development.

In a subsequent seminar, the Director of the Audit Office of Qinghai Province, Mr Chen Zhaochao, gave a briefing on the work of the Audit Office and had an intensive exchange with the delegation on work issues such as audit examinations and the workflow of rectification supervision, and especially on audit topics related to the development of ecological civilisation. Both sides stated their commitment to aligning with the aim and spirit of the Central Auditing Commission under the 20th Communist Party of China Central Committee in building an audit supervision system and delivering the responsibilities of public auditors, with a people-centred mindset.

Professor Lam quoted President Xi Jinping as stressing that "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets." The country has been steering the full-scale transformation to a green economy and society, constructing a new energy system and emphasising green, low-carbon development as the foundation for enhancing people's well-being and quality of life. To actively align with these national policies, Hong Kong is championing the development of new energy industries and forging a green, low-carbon living environment. On that note, Professor Lam highlighted that the public consultation for the First Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is under way, and that for Part 6 of the consultation document on "Integrated Development of Culture, Sports, and Tourism, Green Living, and Other Areas", a lot of inspiration could be drawn from Qinghai, which demonstrates a solid and effective integration of greening, technology, new energy, culture and tourism. With "greening" poised to be the next big area for exploration in the auditing industry, according to Professor Lam, and with the recent issuance of a plan by the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration to establish a new energy system during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, the delegation was thankful for this timely visit to Qinghai - which has been entrusted with the important strategic mission of building a national hub for clean energy industries - and for visiting the sites of its various national key energy projects, including photovoltaic, clean energy and water resources facilities. Professor Lam described this trip as richly inspiring and informative for the delegation members, as it allowed them to gain first-hand appreciation of the nation's accomplishments and work in areas such as green energy and ecological security, and gave them a vivid picture of the development planning and latest situation of new energy auditing.

Professor Lam looks forward to sharing the takeaways of the Qinghai trip with officers and showing them the success cases of the integration of strategic resources and facilitation of leapfrog development of energy industries in the country. He believes it would motivate them to utilise their strengths, deliver their duties and develop their potential, and, in turn, to fully play their part as professionals in meeting the country's needs, unleashing Hong Kong's prowess and responding to the people's aspirations.

The Director of Audit, Professor Nelson Lam (left), and the Director of the Audit Office of Qinghai Province, Mr Chen Zhaochao (right), are pictured outside the building of the Audit Office of Qinghai Province on June 25. Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

The delegation visited new energy-related facilities in Qinghai on June 23 and 24 to learn about the latest situation of green development on the national and local levels. Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

The delegation and the Audit Office of Qinghai Province held a seminar on June 25. Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

The Director of Audit, Professor Nelson Lam (left), had an exchange with the Executive Vice Governor of Qinghai Province, Mr Zhang Jingang (right), on June 22. Professor Lam expressed his eagerness to share the experience gained from this visit with peers in Hong Kong as a way to tell good stories of China and its provinces and cities. Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

The delegation of the Audit Commission met on June 22 with officials of the Qinghai Provincial Government and the Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan Offices of the National Audit Office of the People's Republic of China, and exchanged views with them on issues of mutual interest. Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

New Measures to support development of Hong Kong's fixed income and currency market and offshore Renminbi business

The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority:

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), the People's Bank of China (PBoC) and the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) announced today (July 7) a series of new measures to deepen the financial co-operation between Hong Kong and the Chinese Mainland, support the development of Hong Kong's fixed income and currency (FIC) market and offshore Renminbi (RMB) business, and reinforce Hong Kong's position as an international financial centre. These measures include:

1. supporting the collaboration of financial infrastructure institutions in Hong Kong and Chinese Mainland to develop a Hong Kong FIC electronic trading platform;
2. further enhancing and expanding the Southbound Bond Connect, including increasing the annual investment quota, developing bond repurchase (repo) business using Southbound Bond Connect bonds as collateral, expanding the product scope to cover products with HKD bonds and RMB bonds as underlying assets, connecting to the Macao bond market, and enhancing the management of Southbound Bond Connect market makers;
3. supporting the inclusion of onshore bonds issued by the Ministry of Finance and Mainland policy banks that are held under Northbound Bond Connect as eligible margin collateral at the HKFE Clearing Corporation and the SEHK Options Clearing House;
4. enhancing the Northbound Bond Connect operational arrangement to extend the settlement time and improve efficiency;
5. further enhancing the Swap Connect to include the interbank Seven-Day Fixing Depository-Institutions Repo Rate (FDR007) as a reference rate; and
6. supporting the launch of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited Five-Year China Government Bond Futures in Hong Kong on August 3.

Building on this, the HKMA also announced five measures to support the development of the offshore RMB market and strengthen Hong Kong's role as a leading offshore RMB business hub, thereby enabling greater outreach to other regions and enhancing support for the real economy. These measures, underpinned by strong support from the PBoC, address industry suggestions for developing the offshore RMB market. These include:

1. increasing the size of the HKMA's RMB Business Facility from RMB200 billion to RMB500 billion and extending tenors to include nine-month, two-year and three-year, effective on July 10;
2. exploring to introduce a tendering mechanism of seven-day offshore RMB liquidity;
3. exploring the issuance of offshore RMB short-term debt instruments to support the building of the offshore RMB yield curve;
4. promoting the development of a bilateral currency transaction framework between Indonesian Rupiah and offshore RMB; and
5. issuing good practices to banks to promote RMB adoption.

The Chief Executive of the HKMA, Mr Eddie Yue, said, "We are pleased to announce this series of measures, which will further deepen cross-boundary financial co-operation, strengthen financial market connectivity between Hong Kong and the Chinese Mainland, promote the development of Hong Kong's fixed income and currency market, and reinforce Hong Kong's position as an offshore RMB business hub and international financial centre. These measures are the result of concerted efforts of the HKMA, the PBoC and other relevant financial regulatory authorities in Hong Kong and on the Chinese Mainland. We will continue to work closely with the relevant regulatory authorities, the industry and financial infrastructure institutions to ensure timely and smooth implementation of the measures, and explore further enhancements."

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