Hong Kong officials meet King Salman, Crown Prince

Senior officials from Hong Kong met with Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud on Sunday, state news agency SPA reported. The delegation also met Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in a separate meeting.

Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam was accompanied by financial secretary James Lau, chairman of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEx) Chow Chung-kong and HKEx chief executive Charles Li, according to a statement from Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

During the meeting with King Salman, the delegation “discussed aspects of cooperation and ways of developing and enhancing them in various fields,” SPA said, noting that the meeting was attended by Saudi ministers of energy, finance and interior.

In the talks with Prince Mohammed, the members reviewed the prospects for bilateral cooperation between the two countries and opportunities for its development in areas such as the financial services sector, trade exchange, investments and partnership in China's road and belt initiative.

Leading stock exchanges across the world are vying to list oil giant Saudi Aramco’s IPO and Hong Kong’s stock exchange has pitched itself based on its role as a gateway to China's rich investors.

Saudi Aramco has said it is considering exchanges such as New York, London, Tokyo and Hong Kong for the IPO.