HK firms set to gain from opening-up

The Hong Kong Chamber of Commerce in China, which celebrates its 25th anniversary this year, said it will help enterprises in Hong Kong take advantage of opportunities created by the central authorities’ opening-up moves, such as the Belt and Road Initiative.

On Saturday night, the Hong Kong Chamber of Commerce in China will sign an agreement with the Silk Road Cities Alliance, which was initiated by domestic and foreign public figures in Hong Kong in 2014, to co-host a Belt and Road forum by the end of this year in Beijing.

“We hope to help more medium and small-sized enterprises in Hong Kong invest in the Belt and Road markets, and bring in some good projects from those countries and regions,” said Amy Siu, chairman of the Hong Kong Chamber of Commerce in China.

“Hong Kong has much to offer in terms of logistics and the design and construction of cities. We hope to communicate and cooperate more with others and draw lessons from one another,” she said.

In the past four decades of reform and opening-up in the country, Hong Kong has made significant investments in the Chinese mainland, especially in Guangdong province, the chamber said.

With new encouraging policies targeting the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, there will be more business opportunities for Hong Kong, the chamber said.

“In the next 10 to 15 years, Hong Kong investments in Guangdong province will continue. The two special administrative regions and the nine-city cluster in the Pearl River Delta are expected to better leverage their potential under the new policies,” Siu said.

She added that this May, the chamber will organize a team to visit and research the real estate sector in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

“The government will further lay out the functions in the area to better integrate the economic, industrial, technological and financial sectors, and the chamber will play its role in such efforts,” she said.

Liang Baorong, the director of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government Office in Beijing, said the relationship between Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland can’t stay the same — it must be improved constantly.