HK and UK urged to partner on projects
Hong Kong wants its companies to partner with British counterparts, so they can take on projects together, both in China and other countries in the area covered by the Belt and Road Initiative, attendees of a conference in London heard on Thursday.
Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor spoke about opportunities to strengthen business ties with the United Kingdom at the event attended by more than 1,000 business and government representatives.
“As Asia continues to drive the global economy’s growth, we welcome British companies interested in exploring new business opportunities in the East, to explore opportunities in Hong Kong, to partner for success in the East,” said Lam.
Think Asia, Think Hong Kong was hosted by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council and covered topics including partnership opportunities, financial technology, and the technology and innovation sectors.
This year marks the 20th anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to China. The UK is now the special administrative region’s second-largest trading partner in Europe, with investment worth 25 billion pounds ($34 billion) at the end of 2015, a 115 percent increase on five years earlier.
Greg Hands, UK minister of state for trade and investment, noted the importance of Belt and Road opportunities for British businesses and the significance of Hong Kong as a “key junction” for British companies’ engagement.
“The UK must harness our shared ties (with Hong Kong), so that our firms, from infrastructure to energy, can become partners of choice in this initiative. As global trade moves toward emerging economies, the UK will seek to open up trade with willing partners in the region, and the free trade will bring us benefits,” Hands said.
One day before the conference, the Hong Kong SAR and the UK government signed a strategic agreement to explore collaboration. They also signed a separate agreement to strengthen financial technology cooperation.
Liu Yunshan, a senior Communist Party of China official, met on Wednesday with Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen in Phnom Penh, and they agreed to cement bilateral cooperation and party-to-party exchanges.
China always regards Cambodia as a priority in its diplomacy with neighboring countries, said Liu, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee. Liu said the two countries, treating each other as good neighbors, friends, brothers and partners, have had fruitful cooperation in all fields since China and Cambodia established diplomatic ties 59 years ago.
China will work with Cambodia to implement the important consensus reached by President Xi Jinping and Hun Sen, and to consolidate mutual political trust and comprehensively deepen strategic cooperation, he said.
The ties between the CPC and the ruling Cambodian People’s Party, whose president is Hun Sen, play a leading role in state-to-state ties, said Liu, expecting the two parties to maintain high-level contacts, learn from each other on party rule and state governance, and deepen exchanges to drive party-toparty ties to a new high.
Hun Sen thanked Liu for the visit ahead of the 19th CPC National Congress, saying it shows China’s great attention to the development of Cambodia-China relations. He wished the 19th CPC National Congress success.
Cambodia will work with China to push forward their bilateral comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership for more development, while maintaining mutual support on each other’s issues of crucial concern, Hun Sen said.