On Friday morning Reuters hosted a Newsmaker event in Hong Kong with Carrie Lam, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The event was moderated by Reuters Asia Managing Editor for News Martin Howell and Carrie Lam was introduced by Sanjeev Chatrath, Managing Director and Region Head for Asia Financial and Risk at Thomson Reuters. Lam's interview was her first with the international media since she was sworn in as the city's new leader by Chinese President Xi Jinping on July 1. Highlights included: - Lam told Reuters that "In my view we need a more proactive government", saying that "government will need to go beyond providing services and be a regulator". - Lam said "Hong Kong people are always very compassionate and so I share that compassion of many Hong Kong people by sending my condolences to the wife and the family of Mr Liu,", referring to the death of Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo. - On housing, Lam said "It's a matter of supply and demand. For a city like Hong Kong, which is very cosmopolitan and very free, it's difficult. The right approach is to supply." She also said that housing is "not just a commercial product". - When asked by Martin Howell how she would measure her success in five years time, Lam said "I want people to be happy and to enjoy Hong Kong. Hong Kong is a wonderful city". Watch the full Reuters Newsmaker
here You can follow more of the discussion on Twitter by searching #ReutersLive. Media Contact: Pete dot Biggs at thomsonreuters dot com [Reuters PR Blog Post]
