e-Hong Kong 96

The Hong Kong Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, Mr Edward Yau paid a four-day visit in California in September. During his visit, he stressed that Hong Kong’s fundamentals as free, open and dynamic city remain intact. 

At a dinner hosted by the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, San Francisco on September 18, Mr Yau said that despite recent disruptions, Hong Kong’s fundamentals as free, open and dynamic city with a stable and robust financial system remain intact.  Mr Yau pointed out that Hong Kong will continue to build on its unique advantages under “one country, two systems” – a framework that guarantees Hong Kong’s own system of common law, economic policy, civic freedoms, property rights and much more.  Under this framework, new and rewarding opportunities for international collaboration will continue to be created.

“Hong Kong has always been a resilient, resourceful and reasonable society.  The people of the city are its greatest strength.  They possess the wisdom and wherewithal to handle challenges and weather storms that come our way.  We place our trust and faith in the rule of law and in our capacity to reform, reposition and rebuild our city in the face of crisis.  We are confident that Hong Kong will bounce back again,” Mr Yau said.

Mr Yau also emphasized the close connections between Hong Kong and the United States in commerce, people-to-people links, culture, tourism, education exchanges and extensive government-to-government co-operation, citing a vibrant start-up scene and the fact that nearly 16 per cent of non-local founders of start-ups in Hong Kong last year were from the United States.

While in San Francisco, Mr Yau attended the opening ceremony of the Co-creating Hong Kong: a design+ exhibition, presented by the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, San Francisco and Hong Kong Design Centre.  He emphasized Hong Kong’s role as a value-adding partner for regional development in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and a gateway for multinational companies to access the Mainland China market.  He encouraged Hong Kong designers to explore future co-creations with their US counterparts. 

Mr Yau visited the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford University and had a fruitful exchange of views with the school’s Founder and Faculty Director, Professor David Kelley, on how design thinking can be applied to public policymaking as well as designing and providing public services.

In Los Angeles, Mr Yau gave a keynote speech at the “Think Asia, Think Hong Kong” Gala Dinner and Symposium, which was Hong Kong Trade Development Council’s mega international promotion to promote Hong Kong’s business services to US companies seeking opportunities in Asia.

The US was Hong Kong’s second largest trading partner and market for exports in 2018, with bilateral merchandise trade amounting to US $75 billion.  In terms of the trade balance, Hong Kong is the best partner as over the past decade, globally, the US enjoyed consistently each year the highest trade surplus with Hong Kong, at US$ 33.8 billion in 2018, and had an aggregate merchandise trade surplus with Hong Kong amounting to US$ 297 billion from 2009 to 2018.  This demonstrated that the strong trade connection between the US and Hong Kong is mutually beneficial and expanding.  He said that Hong Kong will continue to explore every avenue to deepen the ties with the people and business of the US.

Citing the city’s diverse strengths in many fields beyond commerce, as well as the international connectivity of the Free Trade Agreement network and the unique status under the national development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong –Macao Greater Bay Area, he said Hong Kong can continue to bring in foreign investment and connect with business opportunities within the region and overseas.

Officiating at the opening ceremony of “Hong Kong-Live in Los Angeles – Greater Bay Area Showcase”, a tourism promotion event organized by the Hong Kong Tourism Board, Mr Yau talked about Hong Kong’s excellent connectivity in being an ideal gateway to explore the diverse and yet uniquely intertwined tourism experiences of Hong Kong, Macao, and other parts of the Greater Bay Area.

The traveling time between Hong Kong and the western part of the Pearl River Delta has been greatly reduced with the opening of the Hong Kong Section of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link and the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, enabling visitors to easily augment their itineraries to Hong Kong with additional legs to delve into the Greater Bay Area cities.

Apart from the tourism promotion event, Mr Yau also officiated at the opening ceremony of the architecture exhibition “Island_Peninsula” staged by the Hong Kong Institute of Architects.  The exhibition features the architectural works of 16 teams from Hong Kong and an interactive display by a new media artist incorporating text by a Hong Kong literary author. Mr Yau also attended a luncheon organized by the Milken Institute, a think tank, and the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in San Francisco to discuss Hong Kong’s latest developments and the implications for global investors.