Carrie Lam urges end to violence to lift Hong Kong out of economic plight

Chief Executive of China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Carrie Lam has urged an end to violence to lift Hong Kong out of the economic plight.

Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam (L) speaks during a press conference in Hong Kong, August 5, 2019. [Photo: EPA via IC/JEROME FAVRE]

Before speaking to the press on Friday, Lam met with 33 representatives from major economic sectors including tourism, retailing, finance and banking to discuss on how the HKSAR government and different sectors of Hong Kong can pool joint efforts to bring Hong Kong out of the economic mire.

With the China-U.S. trade friction and the more than two-month political disputes in Hong Kong, the business sectors are deeply worried about the economic downturn, said Lam at the media standup, adding that the current economic situation is grimmer than ever and its recovery will be a long-time process.

The current priority is to stop the wide-spread violence for Hong Kong to walk out of the economic trough, Lam said, calling on different sectors of the society to set aside differences and drop antagonism to protect the Hong Kong society from further damage.

Lam called for solidarity of different sectors, especially the business sectors, to weather the storm.

She also vowed to listen to more opinions from different sectors to improve the government's work.