China and the United States kicked off the seventh round of trade talks on Thursday in Washington DC. The Chinese delegation, led by vice premier Liu He, met with US trade representative Robert Lighthizer and treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin on Thursday. Multiple memoranda of understanding (MoUs) are being drafted to form a trade deal.
Bloomberg reported that the US is making renminbi stability one of the conditions for a trade deal. Following the report, Geng Shuang, a foreign ministry spokesman, said at a routine press briefing on Wednesday that China will not use currency depreciation as a bargaining chip for trade negotiation and hopes the US does not politicise currency issues.
Trump will meet Liu He on Friday afternoon, Bloomberg reported.
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Norman Chan, chief executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, will retire on October 1. That will mark the tenth anniversary of his promotion to the top job at the de facto central bank.
The HKMA now has seven months to find a successor. Paul Chan, Hong Kong’s financial secretary, is chairing a committee that will look for the next chief executive. The other members of the committee are Victor Fung, chairman of Li & Fung and a business advisor to the government; Lawrence Lau, a leading Hong Kong economist; Brian Stevenson, a non-executive director of the Hong Kong Mortgage Corporation; and Joseph Yam, who ran the HKMA for more than 16 years before Chan took over.
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China unveiled plans for the Greater Bay Area (GBA) on Monday. The GBA includes nine metropolises including Hong Kong, Macau, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.
The detailed plan aims to make the region a global hub for innovation and finance as well as improving infrastructure connectivity between cities.
More specific targets include setting up a Belt and Road (BRI) fund in Hong Kong and establishing research centres in the region for nanotechnology and communications technology.
The plan also specified the roles of Guangdong and Hong Kong, with the former focusing on improving manufacturing capabilities and promoting high-tech industries and the latter strengthening its role in the financial services sector.
A separate statement issued by the National Development and Reform Commission on Wednesday encouraged Macau to establish a renminbi-denominated stock market and develop wealth management businesses and green financing platforms. The plan also pushed Macau to support BRI projects and provide financial services to BRI-related entities such as Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the Silk Road Fund.
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The State Council published the “No. 1 document”, a synonym for a document related to rural rejuvenation, on Tuesday.
Among other detailed plans, China pledged to increase planting of soybeans, diversify import channels, and give priorities to supporting areas of extreme poverty.
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MUFG Bank Hong Kong branch has been accepted to be a member of the interbank foreign exchange market, according to a Monday statement by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange.
The bank can now conduct FX spot, forward and swap trades.