HK vows to seize growth opportunities

City can prosper from development goals in 14th Five-Year Plan, report says

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government has pledged to seize the opportunities in the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) and take advantage of the national development goals to propel the long-term development of the city’s economy.

Paul Chan Mo-po, Hong Kong’s financial secretary, released at a news conference on Monday the “Report on Hong Kong’s Business Environment: A Place with Unique Advantages and Unlimited Opportunities”, the city’s first business environment report since its return to the motherland in 1997.

As social stability resumes in Hong Kong, the business environment will be safe and vibrant. This will help the city leverage its advantages to foster the long-term, stable development of its economy, the report said.

Hong Kong enjoys a sound business environment and a bright future, with vibrant growth impetus and huge opportunities, Chan said. “The Hong Kong economy has weathered the difficult moments. The economic development prospects will be good. Therefore, I urge Hong Kong people to stay to take advantage of the city’s opportunities,” Chan said.

Hong Kong has always maintained its institutional strengths, which are favorable for doing business under “one country, two systems”, the report said.

“One country, two systems” has been the cornerstone of Hong Kong’s economic development since its return to the motherland, the report said.

It emphasized Hong Kong’s position as an international center for finance, commerce and trade, corporate headquarters, and as a major hub for investment, transportation and logistics.

Hong Kong’s economy rebounded 7.8 percent in the first half of this year and the unemployment rate stood at 4.7 percent. The property market resumed its buoyancy, the report said.

From July 2020 to June this year, funds raised through initial public offerings rose more than 50 percent, while the trading turnover of the Hong Kong stock market jumped nearly 70 percent year-on-year.

Assets under the city’s asset and wealth management industry soared 20 percent while the volume of international bond issuances in Hong Kong ranked first in Asia.

On economic development, the 14th Five-Year Plan continues to support Hong Kong and has enhanced its status as an international financial, transportation and trade center and strengthened its status as a global offshore renminbi business hub, an international asset management center and a risk management center.

“Looking ahead, with the continued acceleration of the national economy, and the continued trend of the shift of (the) global economic center from the West to the East, Hong Kong is endowed with opportunities, and international investors will reap plentiful and diversified development opportunities in Hong Kong,” the report said.

The report presents information in a systematic way so the overseas business community, think tanks and the media can accurately understand Hong Kong’s situation, Chan said.

The Hong Kong business report the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government released on Monday indicates that the city remains one of the most attractive destinations for business and investment from around the world.

Contrary to the baseless claims the US administration has been making that the city’s business environment has deteriorated due to the enforcement of the National Security Law for Hong Kong, the introduction of the law, as the report shows, has helped improve Hong Kong’s business environment by serving as a legal foundation to maintain peace and stability in the SAR.

During the peak of the unrest in Hong Kong in 2019, which was orchestrated from behind the scenes by US agencies, some US politicians declared that it was “a beautiful sight to behold”, feeling no qualms about the serious influences on Hong Kong’s business environment and people’s livelihoods. Washington didn’t start shedding crocodile tears on the situation in Hong Kong until the central government managed to bring peace and order back to the city. It was only after its proxies in Hong Kong could not make waves anymore that the US began imposing sanctions on the city, and pressuring US companies to leave.

When the SAR was struggling to get a grip on the novel coronavirus and it was exacting a heavy toll on its economy, it was the Chinese mainland, not the US, that extended a helping hand to protect people’s lives and maintain the normal operations of the international trade, financial and logistics hub.

In the 2020 Doing Business report released by the World Bank, Hong Kong was ranked third among all countries and regions in terms of its business environment. That means its institutional advantages remain unchanged. And that shows it has regained its attraction for businesses from around the world again soon after the introduction of the national security law restored order and stability in the city.

With the recent announcement of the upgrading of the Qianhai and Hengqin cooperation zones, in Shenzhen and Zhuhai respectively, the integrated development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is all set to speed up, providing Hong Kong and Macao with more opportunities to share the development dividends of the mainland. And Hong Kong’s engagement in the Belt and Road Initiative also opens new channels for it to give full play to its advantages. In this process, the ways for the SAR to participate in the global economy will only increase.

Accordingly, foreign businesses operating in Hong Kong can look forward to more opportunities with greater confidence and certainty.