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The Financial Secretary, Mr John C Tsang, spoke at a business seminar and a business luncheon respectively in Dusseldorf, Germany, today (September 25, Dusseldorf time) to outline the business opportunities presented by the "Belt and Road" initiative, as well as the multi-faceted advantages that Hong Kong can offer in participating in the development of "Belt and Road".
Speaking at a seminar on the business opportunities presented by the "Belt and Road" initiative, Mr Tsang said that the "Belt and Road" aims to expand transcontinental connectivity, as well as promote economic, political and cultural development in vast areas of Asia, Europe and Africa. He believed that the initiative can be the driving force of the global economy in the coming decades.
"The Belt-Road will trigger soaring investment in infrastructural facilities. It will deepen financial integration and expand the flow of trade and the building of people-to-people bonds on an unprecedented scale," he said.
Outlining Hong Kong's strengths in financial services such as being a fundraising and financial management hub for the "Belt and Road", the world's largest offshore Renminbi business centre and a global centre for asset management and risk management, as well as having a deep pool of world-class professionals, he added, "Hong Kong is well equipped to be your strategic partner as you venture into the vast markets of the Belt-Road."
At a business luncheon co-organised by the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Berlin and the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, Mr Tsang said that German business could take good advantages of Hong Kong's gateway role to reach the vast markets of Mainland China and across the Asian region.
"Germany, the EU's economic powerhouse, has much to gain from the 'Belt and Road' initiative. Given its location, at the western tip of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the Chongqing-Xinjiang-Europe Railway, Germany can serve as the essential connection between the Belt to the east and the rest of Western Europe to the west," he said.
Having concluded the visit to Dusseldorf, Mr Tsang will travel to Frankfurt in the afternoon for meetings with local business leaders.
Ends/Friday, September 25, 2015
Issued at HKT 22:35
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