The two delegations exchanged views on a number of topical issues in the financial services sector. Mr Ip said: 'We had a fruitful discussion at the Roundtable meeting. We discussed the implications of global financial markets and the reforms and initiatives Hong Kong has embarked on to position ourselves as a major international financial centre. Such initiatives include modernising and consolidating our regulatory regime, restructuring our market operation to achieve greater efficiency and competitiveness, and enhancing our financial infrastructure to make the best use of technology.'

He continued: 'Given the openness of our respective markets, we see considerable scope for co-operation between Australia and Hong Kong. The Roundtable is a very important step forward in furthering such co-operation and strengthening the ties between the two jurisdictions. At the meeting today, we reviewed the current working relationships between Australia and Hong Kong, and our respective regulatory regimes in the areas of cross border financing, intermediary licensing, market regulation, clearing and settlement, and enforcement and surveillance. We also agreed to set up working groups to examine in detail the issues involved and develop the future work programme of the Roundtable.'

The Hong Kong and Australia delegations issued a joint statement at the end of the Roundtable meeting which stated: 'This has been a solid first step in strengthening ties between our jurisdictions. We acknowledge that there is a lot of work to be done to achieve our common objectives.'