Photo:Xinhua

Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam met with three ministers in Beijing on Wednesday during her visit to the capital, discussing the central government's supportive measures to Hong Kong, including economy, COVID-19 vaccine and air service. 

Lam met with Minister of Commerce Zhong Shan on Wednesday morning. She expressed gratefulness for the ministry's support of Hong Kong at the early stage of COVID-19 epidemic, providing the city with anti-epidemic materials that it severely lacked. 

Many Hong Kong international trade companies have been impacted by US unilateralism and the pandemic, and Lam hopes the commerce ministry will support Hong Kong companies to help them take advantage of the country's new dual cycle development pattern. 

According to Lam, 240 Hong Kong companies are attending the third China International Import Expo with support from the commerce ministry, an increase of 20 percent compared to last year. 

During a meeting with the Minister of Science and Technology Wang Zhigang on Wednesday afternoon, Lam said Hong Kong is trying to buy COVID-19 vaccine via various methods and hopes to maintain communication with the ministry, which is in charge of affairs relating to COVID-19 vaccine development in the country. 

Lam stressed that Hong Kong and Shenzhen have a brilliant future in technological innovation cooperation. The two cities are promoting construction of technology parks, and are calling for support from the science and technology ministry, Lam noted. 

Lam also met with Feng Zhenglin, director of the Civil Aviation Administration of China in the afternoon. She said that the civil aviation industry in Hong Kong was hit hard by the epidemic but the city will continue to serve as an international aviation hub. 

She said that she hoped Hong Kong's airports can strengthen cooperation with airports in the Greater Bay Area and expand multimodal transport of goods and passengers in the region. 

Lam will be in Beijing from Wednesday to Friday, when she will meet with officials from four to six ministries. Topics also on the agenda include deep cooperation between Hong Kong and Shenzhen, and when to resume people-to-people exchanges between Hong Kong and the mainland. 

She will depart for Guangzhou on Friday evening and meet leaders of Guangdong Province and Shenzhen the next day to discuss how to move forward the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area development and Hong Kong-Shenzhen cooperation.