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The Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (HKETO) in Singapore, jointly with the Hong Kong Tourism Board and other organisations, hosted a Chinese New Year dinner in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia today (February 9).
It was the first of a series of Chinese New Year dinners held in the Southeast Asian region during the festive season to update local contacts on the latest developments in Hong Kong.
In her welcoming remarks, the Director of HKETO in Singapore, Ms Subrina Chow, said both Malaysia and Hong Kong were pleasantly surprised by the continuing momentum of growth demonstrated by their economies last year, helped by an early rebound of intra-Asia trade that drove economic recovery across the region.
Ms Chow said, "Following the signing of three co-operation arrangements in Islamic finance and other economic sectors between Malaysia and Hong Kong in 2009, our bilateral relations have also kept up their growth momentum in 2010.
"Seven Hong Kong ministers came to Malaysia in 2010, calling on their counterparts and related organisations in financial services, legal services, shipping, education, health, environment and security," she said.
She added that bilateral trade between Malaysia and Hong Kong soared by an impressive 27% last year and Malaysia remained among Hong Kong's top 10 investment destinations.
Looking forward to seeing more co-operation in various aspects with the Southeast Asian countries, Ms Chow also highlighted the exciting development of offshore Renminbi(RMB) business in Hong Kong which is offering new opportunities to overseas investors and reinforcing Hong Kong's position as China's global financial centre.
With the expansion of the cross-border RMB trade settlement scheme in June last year, the number of Mainland enterprises that can settle merchandise exports in RMB increased hugely from just 365 to over 67,000 last December. Banks in Hong Kong have handled 75% of the RMB trade settlement under the scheme.
Hong Kong also offers a growing range of RMB financial products to complement its trade settlement services, such as RMB certificates of deposits, structured deposits, insurance products and investment funds.
Moreover, Hong Kong is currently the only place outside Mainland China with an RMB bond market. The Central People's Government, Mainland financial institutions, Hong Kong and multinational corporations including McDonald's, Caterpillar, and even international organisations such as the Asian Development Bank have started to issue RMB bonds in Hong Kong to raise debts for their new businesses or projects on the Mainland.
Ms Chow mentioned that several Hong Kong senior government officials will be visiting the region later in the year to share with the local financial and business communities the various opportunities presented by the RMB trade settlement pilot scheme and the growth of RMB-denominated financial products in Hong Kong.
She appealed for the continued support of the Malaysian guests for a more prosperous future of both economies.
Other Chinese New Year dinner receptions will be held in Bangkok, Singapore, Manila and Jakarta later this month.
Ends/Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Issued at HKT 19:00
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