Hong Kong SAR Chief Executive Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor invited e-commerce giant Alibaba to list in Hong Kong and welcomed more new economy enterprises with its newly-adopted dual-class share structures, ifeng.com reported on Monday.

“Now I hope Alibaba could come back to list in Hong Kong,” Lam said when meeting with Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba Group and chairman of the General Association of Zhejiang Entrepreneurs, at the inauguration ceremony of the Hong Kong Association of Zhejiang Entrepreneurs on Monday.

The chief executive’s invitation came after Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) revisited their stance on a one-share, one-vote standard last December and allowed due-class share structures, a trend for companies to go public and the biggest move for the Hong Kong stock exchange. Early in 2014, Alibaba launched an IPO in the United States because, at the time, HKEX did not permit dual-class shares.

Hong Kong has been working to innovate its economy and the local government hopes that the dual-class share system will entice more enterprises to list in the city, said Lam when addressing the ceremony.

Photo: Carrie Lam and Jack Ma attend the inauguration ceremony of the Hong Kong Association of Zhejiang Entrepreneurs on the evening of Jan. 8

Jack Ma, owner of the world’ sixth largest public company, worth nearly $500 billion, responded to the listing offer, saying that Alibaba is supportive of Hong Kong’s development and will definitely consider it.

The dual-class share structure will attract more hi-tech companies from the mainland to launch IPOs in Hong Kong, and also will bring more opportunities and jobs, taxes, and technological breakthroughs for the special administrative region, said Ma.

.