Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Carrie Lam on Friday continued her meetings with mainland officials. Topics like finance, reform, and public health are on the agenda of her ongoing visit to Beijing to discuss measures to revive Hong Kong's pandemic-battered economy.

Read more: Lam first meets with ministers of commerce and sci-tech

Lam expressed her full support for better integrating into the country's development plan. "That is a must if Hong Kong economy wants to retain growing momentum," she told He Lifeng, head of the National Development and Reform Commission, according to a press release from the HKSAR government. 

She pointed out that Hong Kong needs to "seize opportunities" brought by the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. 

The city-cluster development plan was an idea proposed by the central government in early 2019, consisting of Hong Kong, Macao as well as nine cities of Guangdong Province. According to official data in 2017, gross domestic product (GDP) of the 70-million-people Greater Bay Area reached around 10 trillion yuan ($1.48 trillion), roughly as much as Russia or South Korea in 2018.

"Hong Kong's uniqueness has been eroded by the spectacular rise of Shanghai and Shenzhen as centers of trade and finance. That's why the Greater Bay Area plan is critical," International Corporate Strategist Robert Lawrence Kuhn said.

"New strategic positioning must be developed," in order that Guangdong and Hong Kong each can retain its unique role, he commented.

More financial products

The integration does not just end in the Greater Bay Area, but in the financial sector as well. The global status of Hong Kong can be consolidated by strengthening ties with mainland's securities watchdog departments, Lam said when meeting with Yi Huiman, chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC).

She looks to expand the integration plan and hopes to see more financial products growing in Hong Kong.

The HKSAR chief also thanked the Chinese mainland for its support in Hong Kong's COVID-19 fight as she told Ma Xiaowei, director of the National Health Commission. 

"Lam said the COVID-19 situation in Hong Kong has been getting stable and she expressed hope for the gradual resumption of the cross-border flow of people between the mainland and Hong Kong as soon as possible," according to a government statement released on Thursday.

Lam's mainland tour is expected to last five days. Besides Beijing, Lam will also visit southern metropolises Guangzhou and Shenzhen. Last month, Lam announced the postponement of her annual policy address to late November, citing the need for "support policies and measures" backed by the central government. 

Right before her visit, Lam doubled down on her determination to implement the new national security law for the HKSAR, which was passed by the central government after the city was embroiled in prolonged riots last year.