The full text of the speech by Hong Kong Chief Executive Lee Kar-chau at the "Web 3.0 Return: Building a Golden New Beginning" forum

The following articles are from Bauhinia, authored by Bauhinia HK

President Yang Yong, distinguished guests and friends:

Hello everyone. It is a great pleasure to participate in the Summit Forum on Innovative Technology and Art Development held by Bauhinia Magazine through video.

The theme of this forum is “Web 3.0 Return: Building a Golden New Start”, closely following the direction of Hong Kong’s development of new growth points such as innovative technology, culture and art under the “14th Five-Year Plan”.

Hong Kong is striding forward on a new journey of governance and prosperity. This forum brings together experts from different industries to offer suggestions for Hong Kong’s high-quality development, and it is at the right time. I thank Bauhinia Magazine for hosting this forum and wish it a complete success.

Web 3.0 is a brand-new development direction of the Internet, which integrates technologies that have attracted wide attention in recent years, and has the potential to become a trend that promotes the future development of finance and commerce.

The SAR government attaches great importance to the development of financial technology and Web 3.0, and issued a policy declaration, clearly stating that Hong Kong has an open and inclusive attitude towards global innovators engaged in virtual asset business. The Government will work with financial regulators to create an enabling environment for the sustainable and responsible development of Hong Kong’s financial industry.

In June this year, we have implemented a new licensing system for virtual asset trading platforms, and we are also fully discussing the regulatory arrangements for stablecoins. The government also pays close attention to international developments to ensure that Hong Kong’s regulatory requirements are sound and facilitate market development.

Hong Kong is making every effort to develop into an international innovation and technology center and a cultural and artistic exchange center between China and foreign countries. Art technology is a new development direction that connects culture and art with innovative technology.

In order to actively promote and support the development of art technology, the SAR government has adopted different funds and plans to encourage the cultural and art circles to apply technology in suitable projects and promote the development of art technology. The approved funding has exceeded 100 million yuan, and a total of 324 art and Organizations and personnel related to innovation and technology will benefit.

At the same time, the SAR government continues to upgrade the facilities of performing arts venues, in line with the development and application of art technology. The new East Kowloon Cultural Center is expected to open in phases from the end of this year to the beginning of next year. The East Kowloon Cultural Center will be equipped with innovative equipment, and a special experimental field for art technology will be set up to promote the development of art technology.

In addition, the East Kowloon Cultural Center Academy of Arts and Technology will provide systematic training and produce different types of art and technology projects to promote exchanges and cooperation between artists and technology professionals, inject new impetus into performing arts, and become a platform to accelerate the combination of “art + technology” base.

The government will continue to support the integration of art and innovative technology, and encourage artists and art groups to make good use of technology to conceive, create and present unprecedented artistic expressions, bringing more and newer artistic experiences to audiences.

August 15, 2023 (Tuesday)