THE Hong Kong government will hold the first formal meeting with representatives of the Occupy Central students tomorrow afternoon, as protests subsided yesterday after more than a week of demonstrations.

    Lau Kong-wah, the SAR’s undersecretary of constitutional affairs, said formal talks between students and Chief Secretary Carrie Lam were set after three rounds of “preparatory talks” and the meeting’s location will be determined later.

    According to Lau, the two sides will discuss two issues — “constitutional development’s constitutional basis” and “constitutional development’s legal provision” — during the meeting. Each side can send five members to the first meeting.

    Lau said the entire process of the formal meeting will be open to media and the two sides will determine the date for the second round of meeting after tomorrow’s meeting.

    Some banks that had closed branches in the past week also threw open their doors for business in Hong Kong yesterday.

    The protests have disrupted businesses and helped wipe close to US$50 billion off the value of shares on the Hong Kong stock exchange, reports said.

    The World Bank said that the protests were hurting Hong Kong’s economy.(SD-Xinhua)