Hong Kong should leverage its strong digital infrastructure to play a bigger part in future Belt and Road projects by facilitating trade among member countries, and further develop its capacity in green technology and green finance, the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce said on Wednesday.

Its chairman Jonathan Choi, was speaking to RTHK in Beijing after President Xi Jinping laid out eight directions for the Belt and Road initiative – including scrapping all restrictions on foreign investment access in the manufacturing industry and advancing green technology.

Choi said the focus on connectivity plays to Hong Kong’s strengths as an international finance centre.

"We are talking about not only the traditional trade, we are talking about the digital e-commerce that we are going to develop,” he said.

“Since Hong Kong, we have this smart city - a very strong digital infrastructure. I think we can work on it with many countries, especially the Asean countries."

Choi also said the territory should look to further develop its capacity in other emerging areas such as green finance and technology.

"Besides the trade, I think the green finance and green technology is also good for Hong Kong… because Hong Kong is very strong on financial side, especially for issuing the green bonds – this is a Hong Kong strength. And on [the] technology side, I think we got the top five universities in Hong Kong, we can work on all these green tech."