The 13th CCTV Financial and Economic Hong Kong Forum, co-hosted by China Media Group (CMG) and Ta Kung Pao, was held in China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) on Thursday.

With the theme "Scientific and technological innovation: activating new driving forces for economic development," the forum attracted over 100 political, scientific and business representatives from the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong.

John Lee Ka-chiu, chief executive of China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, said at the forum that with the solid support of China's 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025), Hong Kong is actively developing into an international center for innovation and technology.

He said that Hong Kong signed with the Ministry of Science and Technology the "Mainland and Hong Kong Arrangement on Accelerating the Development of Hong Kong into International Innovation and Technology Center," to deepen technology and innovation exchanges, innovation resource sharing, achievement transformation and personnel exchange, as well as give full play to Hong Kong's advantages in internationalization.

Lee said that Hong Kong has also signed a memorandum with the Cyberspace Administration of China to promote the safe and orderly flow of data from the Chinese mainland within the Greater Bay Area, promote the digital economy and scientific research development of the Greater Bay Area, and help Hong Kong actively integrate into the overall development of the country and build Hong Kong into an "international data port."

Under the policy of "One Country, Two Systems," Hong Kong has the unique advantage of backing the Chinese mainland and connecting the world, and innovation and development are the priorities of the HKSAR government, he added.

Peng Jianming, a member of CMG's editorial board and general manager of the general manager office, said that the forum has become an important annual event in the financial field and a national brand with far-reaching influence, attracting widespread attention from all walks of life in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

He said that CMG will give full play to the important role of its main force of publicity and reporting, provide strong public opinion support for promoting effective qualitative improvement and reasonable quantitative growth of the economy, continue to promote exchanges and cooperation between the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong, and help Hong Kong better integrate into the overall development of China.

Li Dahong, chairman and editor-in-chief of Hong Kong Ta Kung Wen Wei Media Group, said that the forum has become a major event for financial exchanges between the two regions.

The forum has also grown into an important professional financial dialogue platform between Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland and a wind vane for observing economic cooperation between Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland.