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The Chief Executive, Mr Donald Tsang continued his trip to Japan today (November 12) with a tour of two more incineration plants and participated in APEC-related activities. It was the second day of his visit.
In the morning Mr Tsang toured the Asahi Incineration Plant in Yokohama, which can handle a total of 540 tonnes of waste a day with three incinerators. The energy generated is used for community facilities, including hot water supply, air conditioning, and a heated swimming pool.
"The incineration plant is equipped with advanced technology and facilities to get rid of toxic materials and odor. The proposed incineration facilities in Hong Kong will certainly use advanced technology to meet the strictest international emission standards," Mr Tsang said.
The Chief Executive was accompanied by the Mayor of Yokohama, Ms Fumiko Hayashi, during the tour. He told Ms Hayashi that both Hong Kong and Yokohama were committed to developing themselves into environmentally friendly cities and that they had much to learn from each other in waste disposal as well as other areas of environmental protection.
He then addressed the business sector of Member Economies at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation CEO Summit on "Dynamism of Asia Pacific and global economy: How it can contribute to global growth and prosperity".
The Chief Executive said Hong Kong had been riding on Asian growth, taking advantage of the fast growing Mainland market as well as other emerging economies, such as India and Russia.
"Hong Kong is building on its role as a primary fund raising platform for Mainland companies to become a premier listing and fund raising centre in Asia for international and regional companies," he said.
However, he was concerned about the impact of the US' second round of quantitative easing on Asian economies, adding that the macro environment is exceptionally abnormal, where asset prices are increasingly getting out of line with fundamentals.
"We should also be wary of the extremely low interest rate and the strong capital inflows into emerging markets. This has increased the risk of asset bubbles, which will impact on our financial stability as well as regional and global economic growth," he said.
Mr Tsang said while the worst of the global financial crisis may be over, the next wave will hit at the corporate level through massive volatilities in the currency and securities markets.
"We are not out of the woods yet. Far from it," he said.
Regarding Hong Kong's property market, the Chief Executive described it as "a particular concern", saying that measures were taken in the past few months to increase housing supply, curb property speculation, prevent excessive leverage and enhance market transparency.
"But we will not stop here. We will not hesitate to introduce further anti-speculative measures when there is a need to do so. And because of their market sensitive and urgent nature, there will be no prior notice," he said.
In the afternoon, the Chief Executive delivered a speech on "the role of Hong Kong in International Financial Co-operation and China's Financial Development" at the luncheon of the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan.
He noted that quantitative easing did not seem to have achieved the desired effect in the advanced economies, but the side effects on the Asian region and other emerging market economies were already very apparent.
"Given their better growth prospects compared to the US and Europe, Asian economies are attracting huge amounts of excess liquidity in pursuit of higher yields. These money flows are creating upward pressure on exchange rates, consumer price inflation and asset prices in the region."
He said Renminbi was presenting some very exciting business opportunities in the Hong Kong financial markets.
As further financial reform in the Mainland will involve liberalisation of the capital account to gradually achieve full convertibility of the Renminbi and link the domestic capital markets with the rest of the world, the Chief Executive said Hong Kong would once again play a pivotal role with its well-established financial markets and unique status under "One Country, Two Systems".
In the afternoon, the Chief Executive also visited the Shinagawa Incineration Plant in Tokyo.
The plant is installed with two incinerators which can handle a total of 600 tonnes of waste a day. The heat produced by waste incineration is used to generate electricity and is supplied to the district.
Ends/Friday, November 12, 2010
Issued at HKT 15:36
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