Hong Kong should craft out a comprehensive policy to promote reindustrialization to align itself with the nation’s 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-15) for National Economic and Social Development, which emphasizes upgrading the traditional industries, leading business groups have urged.
“To link up with national development, we should have a comprehensive reindustrialization plan for the upgrading, transformation and sustainable development of Hong Kong’s manufacturing companies in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area,” said Allen Shi Lop-tak, president of the Chinese Manufacturers’ Association of Hong Kong.
A platform of business technology collaboration and research should be formed to tackle the industry development bottleneck problem
Allen Shi Lop-tak, president of the Chinese Manufacturers’ Association of Hong Kong
“The special administrative region government should step up cooperation between officials, enterprises, academics and researchers in Hong Kong and other cities in the Greater Bay Area. A platform of business technology collaboration and research should be formed to tackle the industry development bottleneck problem,” he said.
The National People’s Congress, the country’s top legislature, approved the 14th Five-Year Plan outline in March, which, for the first time, pledges support to develop Hong Kong into a global innovation and technology hub, with the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Loop as one of the four major platforms for cooperation in the Greater Bay Area.
The SAR has launched various measures to promote research and development, including establishing the InnoHK Clusters at Hong Kong Science Park, initiating the Global STEM Professorship Scheme, and developing the Hong Kong-Shenzhen Innovation and Technology Park at the Lok Ma Chau Loop.
Shi said since Hong Kong is relatively weak in technology product commercialization, it should seek support from the central government and relevant departments to consolidate the Greater Bay Area’s technology resources and climb up the R&D value chain.
The Federation of Hong Kong Industries suggested the SAR should stimulate reindustrialization by selecting industries to build core technological competence, fortifying the city as a producer services hub, and reviewing economic data to accurately reflect the manufacturing sector’s contribution to the local economy.
The 14th Five-Year Plan also emphasizes the “dual circulation” economic strategy, spurring the domestic market as an antidote to growing trade protectionism and an unstable global economic climate, while exploring opportunities in foreign markets.
Shi noted that despite the nation’s huge consumption market, overseas demand is faltering, and that’s the business environment Hong Kong companies are facing.
As the “Hong Kong brand” is well-known among consumers in the Greater Bay Area, he said, Hong Kong enterprises should leverage this to attract more customers in the region so as to proactively participate in the nation’s “internal circulation” drive.
