Deeping Belt and Road Business and Connections
We had a constructive meeting with Nicholas Ho, the new Commissioner of Belt and Road Office on 3 November, who outlined the focus of his office for the coming year. Chamber CEO Patrick Yeung, Belt & Road Working Group Co-Convenor Edmond Yue and Asia, Africa & Middle East Committee Chairman Jonathan Lamport welcomed Nicholas and his colleagues.
He explained that the BRI’s focus has now shifted from mega-scale project to smaller ones, as many large infrastructure projects and facilities built over the past 10 years since the project’s launch are now completed. As a result, smaller projects can develop business more easily and cheaply. He also emphasized the importance of magnifying Hong Kong’s role as an interconnector to benefit from the BRI by facilitating business and trade in both inbound and outbound investments. Nicholas also shared that two major themes going forward will be green & sustainable development, and the digital economy.
The Chamber agreed to work more closely with the BRO to help members explore new markets and opportunities in light of more FTAs expected to be signed in the coming years, not least RCEP.
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Exploring Opportunities in the Middle East
At the Belt and Road Working Group’s meeting on 14 February, Co-Convenor Nicholas Ho shared the takeaways from his trip to APEC Thailand in November and the recent Hong Kong mission to the Middle East. He said despite tensions between member economies, the APEC Thailand came to a successful conclusion as members signed a Bio-Circular-Green (BCG) Economy Agreement, reiterating the Asia-Pacific region’s commitment to sustainable growth.
On the mission to the Middle East led by the Chief Executive John Lee, Ho said Middle Eastern countries were eager to diversify their economies away from oil dependence and were proactively bringing in professional talent and services. There were ample opportunities in areas such as green finance, green bonds, family offices, bond and stock connect. He added that countries also displayed a strong urge to use Hong Kong as a platform to enter the GBA, which he saw as inseparable to the BRI. With the latter reaching its 10-year mark with over US$1 trillion invested in some 3,000 projects across 200 countries, he predicts BRI megaprojects will give way to smaller scale, but high-quality, ESG-driven, digital projects. This would also play to Hong Kong’s strengths with its state-of-the-art professional services sector.
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Belt & Road Global Forum
The HKTDC 5th Belt & Road Global Forum Annual Roundtable was held on 2 September with the theme “Charting a Sustainable and Robust Path to Opportunities in a New Era”. Nicholas Ho and Edmond Yue, Co-Convenors of the Belt and Road Working Group, attended the forum.
Ho, as a member of the panel, discussed the latest green developments along the BRI, as well as how businesses can build resilient supply chains amid global disruptions and how to mitigate operational risks under the "new normal".
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A Close Look into China’s Contributions to the Health Silk Road
Prof Yang Jian, Vice President and Senior Fellow in Shanghai Institute for International Studies (SIIS), gave an overview of the latest developments of the Health Silk Road (HSR) and China's work to bridge the global vaccine gap at the Chamber’s Belt and Road Working Group, hosted by Edmond Yue, Co-convenor, on 11 April. He said China had recently pledged to supply an additional 1 billion vaccines to Africa, on top of the 2 billion pledged globally in 2021, to help the continent achieve its goal of vaccinating 60% of the African population by 2022. The country was also working with the international community to promote mutual vaccine recognition.
Also speaking at the meeting, Henry Tillman, Founder of China Investment Research, gave members an in-depth analysis of China's mRNA vaccine development, saying there was hope that one or two mRNA vaccines would be released in late 2022. China was working closely with over 27 developing countries via technology transfer and joint ventures to help them set up factories to produce vaccines locally, among which Indonesia, Pakistan, UAE and Uzbekistan led in number of vaccines produced. He encouraged members to explore investment opportunities in medical infrastructure and pharmaceutical manufacturing along the HSR.
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Strengthening Ties with Belt and Road Office
We had a constructive meeting with Rex Chang, the new Commissioner of Belt and Road Office on 14 March. He was accompanied by Mary Tsang, Assistant Commissioner of Belt and Road Office and Helen Cheng, Trade Officer of Belt and Road Office, and were welcomed by Chamber CEO George Leung and Belt & Road Working Group Co-Convenors Edmond Yue and Nicholas Ho.
Chang said despite the pandemic, the government's plan for the BRI was to maintain the same momentum and promote Hong Kong's role as a functional platform between the Mainland and the international community. His office had organized a few webinars with ASEAN counties, namely Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, and was planning to organize another session with United Arab Emirates soon, a country with which Hong Kong had seen business ties growing rapidly in the past couple of years.
Apart from connecting Hong Kong to the international market, Chang said it was also important to bring Hong Kong and Mainland businesses together and find synergy. With that in mind, his office was organizing a few events with Mainland authorities to help promote integration of Hong Kong's state-of-the-art professional services sector with projects owners in the Mainland. He added there were many opportunities in green financing to help build a sustainable BRI.
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Belt & Road Working Group Meeting
Edmond Yue, Co-convenor of the Belt and Road Working Group, hosted the group’s meeting on 24 September, and welcomed Andre Wheeler, CEO of Wheeler Management Consulting Pty Ltd / Asia Pacific Connex. Wheeler gave members a presentation on the latest developments of the Digital Silk Road (DSR) and its practical applications connecting land and port via non-human interfaces, and extending such connections into cities. New technologies had emerged, he said, to help make logistics seamless and more efficient along the Belt and Road.
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Belt and Road Working Group Meeting
Edmond Yue, Co-convenor of the Belt and Road Working Group, hosted the group’s meeting on 15 June, and welcomed Pham Binh Dam, Consul General of Vietnam in Hong Kong. The Consul General updated members on the latest developments in the country and business opportunities under the Belt and Road initiative. With a huge population of over 100 million, Vietnam possesses a skilled, educated and diligent workforce ready to work hard and adapt to new challenges, he told members attending the meeting.
Many Vietnam businesses are interested in the Belt and Road and other Chinese initiatives such as the Greater Bay Area. However, Pham said, they did not have much knowledge about such initiatives, and it was hard to find an entrance point to the Mainland markets. The same applied to Hong Kong businesses looking to invest in Vietnam’s rapidly growing economy, where they would often find themselves facing vastly different business culture and rules and regulations.
He said that although there had been a 40% growth in trade between Hong Kong and Vietnam in the first quarter, the flow of capital investment was limited due to global uncertainty and lack of mutual market insight. He suggested that the Chamber organizes a few sessions about potential investment projects and mergers and acquisitions opportunities in Vietnam.
Pham added that Hong Kong investors should keep an eye on sectors such as e-commerce, infrastructure, finance, and hospitality and tourism, where huge opportunities were emerging. On the hospitality side, for example, he said many luxury hotels along the country’s 3,000-km coastline were up for sale for a lowered price due to the pandemic, which could be lucrative after renovations and branding. He said Vietnam’s e-commerce sector had also developed in leaps and bounds in the past few years – in fact, he said, e-commerce was even more developed than in Hong Kong as almost everything in Vietnam could already be done online.
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Meeting with Belt and Road Office
Denis Yip, Commissioner for Belt and Road, paid a courtesy call on Chamber CEO George Leung and Belt & Road Working Group Co-Convenors Edmond Yue and Nicholas Ho on 18 March to discuss ways to help more businesses in Hong Kong and overseas get on the BRI train. He was accompanied by Deputy Commissioner Kesson Lee and his team from the Belt and Road Office.
Yip said his office had been organizing webinars to promote trade and investment between Hong Kong and Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia. He added that the Belt and Road Summit 2021, planned to take place in September, will feature a new emphasis on the Greater Bay Area (GBA), RCEP, ASEAN and their connection to the BRI. He explained that the his office’s work had been geared towards promoting Hong Kong as a top-class service provider to BRI countries, and leveraging Hong Kong’s advantages in sectors such as I&T, finance, startups, medical, construction and engineering.
Leung said the Chamber and its BRI Working Group keeps members abreast of the latest developments of the BRI, and, through its connections with overseas chambers, connects members with potential partners in emerging markets in ASEAN and beyond.
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Belt and Road Working Group Meeting
Edmond Yue, Co-Convenor of the Belt and Road Working Group, hosted the group’s meeting on 2 March. He invited Liu Yajun, Head of Commercial Office, Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the HKSAR, who spoke on the latest developments of the Belt and Road, and the initiative’s relations with the recently signed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and the Mainland’s Dual Circulation Strategy.
Liu said countries in the RCEP region had traditionally been important markets for the Belt and Road, so the RCEP will further create and enhance synergy between members of the trade bloc and the initiative.
Although Hong Kong is not yet a member of the RCEP, it aims to join at the first opportunity. The Mainland supports Hong Kong's inclusion in the bloc, and believes the city will play a key role in connecting the participating economies through its state-of-the-art services industries and financial infrastructure.
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Global Connectivity, Opportunities and Challenges: Hong Kong and ETCZs along BRI
Nicholas Ho, Co-Convenor of the Belt and Road Working Group, spoke at PASS (Professional Services Advancement Support Scheme) Symposium, organized by the Research Centre for Sustainable Hong Kong (CSHK) of City University of Hong Kong on 7 January. Ho shared a myriad of business opportunities, including the architecture, urban planning and construction, available along the BRI, and talked about the Chamber’s work in promoting the initiative.
Over 200 participants from around the world joined the symposium online, which featured 16 guests and speakers, sharing insights on business opportunities and challenges for Hong Kong professional services in countries along the BRI.
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