John Lee Ka-chiu, chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), said on Tuesday that he will lead a business delegation to visit Qatar and Kuwait starting on Saturday, bringing more than 50 business representatives from both the Chinese mainland and the HKSAR for the first time, according to a press release on the HKSAR government's website.
According to Lee, the business representatives include more than 30 leaders from Hong Kong's industrial, commercial and professional sectors, along with more than 20 entrepreneurs from provinces in the Chinese mainland, including East China's Zhejiang and Fujian as well as South China's Guangdong. The delegations from the mainland span multiple industries ranging from finance, commerce, trade and infrastructure construction to innovation and technology, energy, transportation and logistics.
The trip serves two objectives. The first is to leverage Hong Kong's strengths as a "super connector" and "super value-add" under the principle of One country, Two systems, capitalizing on its connectivity with both the Chinese mainland and the world. By deepening global engagement and cooperation, Hong Kong aims to reinforce its role as a bridge for enterprises to bring in opportunities and go global, Lee said.
Moreover, participating mainland enterprises include those from high-end industries such as advanced manufacturing and innovation and technology, combined with representatives from Hong Kong's diversified enterprises, financial services and professional services sectors, demonstrating the complementary strengths of enterprises on the mainland and in the HKSAR under the One country, Two systems principle, leveraging synergy to provide comprehensive supply chain services, Lee noted.
Lee said that this visit is his second visit to the Middle East since he assumed office. Apart from its rapid development and abundant capital, the Middle East is actively seeking to diversify its investments, particularly in the Chinese mainland and the HKSAR, which is also in line with the general trend of shifting the center of global economic gravity eastward.
A total of 223 firms invested more than HK$20 billion ($2.75 billion) in the HKSAR in the first four months of this year, nearly double the year-earlier amount, data from the HKSAR government showed, according to Xinhua on Tuesday.
An ideal platform for mainland firms to enter overseas markets, Hong Kong can provide resources to aid the application of research and development, and intellectual property rights protection as well as commercialization, Alpha Lau, Invest Hong Kong's director-general of investment promotion, was quoted by Xinhua as saying.
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