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Following is the full text of the speech (English only) by the Secretary for Economic Services, Mr Stephen Ip, at the Hong Kong Trade Centres Association Inaugural Business Forum today (Monday):
"Hong Kong as an International Business Centre in the 21st Century"
Miss Wu, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am honoured to be invited to speak at the Hong Kong Trade Centres Association Inaugural Business Forum. Let me first begin by congratulating Miss Annie Wu and all those who have worked so hard to bring this important project to fruition. I would also like to extend a warm welcome to those guests, particularly Mr Tozzoli who have flown all the way from different parts of the world and to thank you for helping to increase the number of visitors to Hong Kong this year. We in Hong Kong fully share and support the goal of the World Trade Centres Association to make international trade a vital contributor to the prosperity of the world.
Hong Kong is now the eighth-largest trading entity in the world. We operate one of the busiest container ports in the world. Our airport is the fifth-busiest in terms of the number of international passengers and one of the busiest in terms of the volume of international cargo handled. We are also the world's fifth-largest banking centre, and the seventh-largest foreign exchange market. Our stock market is Asia's second-largest. All these show that Hong Kong has firmly established itself as a major international trade and financial centre.
The Asian financial turmoil has hit the region hard, and Hong Kong is no exception. Our economy has gone through a very difficult period in the past year. But this gives us an opportunity to pause and ask how we should position ourselves for the next millennium. To do so, we must ask ourselves what the world is going to look like in the 21st Century. We see a world where trading will be more and more integrated; we see a world where Asian countries, some faster and some a bit late, will resume their growth path which has been going on in the past decades. More importantly, we see Mainland China moving forward from strength to strength. By the end of 1998 its economy was already the sixth-largest in the world.
Hong Kong is right in the centre of all these developments. We want to benefit from these developments. At the same time, we want to contribute towards bringing greater prosperity to the region and the world. We want to position ourselves as the premier international city and business centre of Asia in the 21st century. We would do this by trying to enhance those areas where we have always been very good: areas like financial services, tourism, headquarters for multi-national companies who want to do business in Asia; and in areas of transportation: a hub for air and sea.
But we also need to build up our strengths in those areas which increasingly influence international companies' choice of the place to conduct business. First is education; we know that the 21st century economy will be a knowledge-based economy. Improvement in language skills in both Chinese and English and computer knowledge will be very important.
Secondly, we must reduce the cost of doing business in Hong Kong. One of the end products of the financial turmoil is the steep correction in property prices. The adjustments in salaries and labour cost are continuing. When the process is completed, our cost structure will be much more reasonable and we will come out much more competitive.
And finally, as an international trading centre, we need to be able to attract people not only to come and work in Hong Kong but also enjoy living here. For the 6.5 million citizens of Hong Kong, the quality of life is already among the best in the world. We will continue to promote art and culture and provide a good living environment. All these require a lot of effort and huge amount of resources and we are fully committed to it.
The success of Hong Kong as an international business and trade centre is built on our track record in maintaining a prudent fiscal policy, our belief in a free-market economy, and our upholding of a level playing field for all in a very open market. These are the philosophies we will stick to to make sure of our future success. So ladies and gentlemen, I hope I have given you this morning a very clear vision of what we want to be in the 21st Century - the premier international city and trade centre in Asia. And we are confident that we will be able to achieve this. We look forward to working closely with the industry and organisations like the Hong Kong Trade Centres Association to make it possible, and I wish all of you a very successful forum this morning.
Thank you.
End/Monday, February 8, 1999
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