Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po speaks during the press conference for the second phase of the consumption voucher scheme at the Central Government Office on May 29, 2023. (CALVIN NG / CHINA DAILY)
Some good news about attracting strategic enterprises is expected soon as startups and leading tech companies in Shanghai are interested in using Hong Kong as a gateway to tap the global market, Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said on Sunday.
Chan was speaking in the wake of his three-day trip last week to Shanghai, where he met senior city officials and visited tech firms to seek potential cooperation.
Chan, who began his tour of Shanghai on July 5, also attended several major conferences and visited the New Development Bank, the China Foreign Exchange Trade System, and the Shanghai Data Exchange
“We received a lot of positive responses in terms of attracting businesses and investments,” Chan wrote in his weekly blog, adding that the companies he visited all recognize the advantages of Hong Kong’s “one country, two systems” and internationalization.
The finance chief said that his trip showed that Hong Kong is heading in the right direction in developing innovation and technology, but the Special Administrative Region must speed up its efforts to drive new technology amid heightened competition.
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Chan, who began his tour of Shanghai on July 5, also attended several major conferences and visited the New Development Bank, the China Foreign Exchange Trade System, and the Shanghai Data Exchange.
Discussions were held on how to better leverage Hong Kong’s strengths as a global financial hub and promote cooperation in the financial and data fields, according to Chan.
“Hong Kong and Shanghai play an important role in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and the Yangtze River Delta city clusters respectively,” he said.
In terms of the maritime industry, Shanghai Port is the world’s largest container port, carrying a huge volume of cargo from the Yangtze River Delta economic belt, while Hong Kong also ranks among the world’s top 10 container ports and is a major port in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
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“Shanghai and Hong Kong can strengthen cooperation and jointly contribute more to the nation’s high-quality development in many spheres, such as finance, commerce and trade, logistics and shipping, green transformation, digital economy, and cultural tourism,” Chan added.
