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The Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (HKETO) held a spring reception in San Francisco today (February 22, San Francisco time) to celebrate the Chinese New Year with political, business and community leaders in the city.
In welcoming some 300 guests, the Director of the HKETO in San Francisco, Ms Subrina Chow, said that Hong Kong and California, United States, enjoy a close trade and cultural relationship.
She thanked the San Francisco Opera, which gave a preview of "Dream of the Red Chamber" at the reception. This new work, commissioned by the Opera, will have its world premiere in autumn in San Francisco and will be presented in the Hong Kong Arts Festival in March 2017.
Trade between Hong Kong and California continues to gain new ground. Despite the drop in US merchandise exports in 2015, the Hong Kong market for California exports continues to grow. "Our city of 7.3 million residents and 60 million visitors has risen by one rank to become the fifth largest exports destination for California merchandise exports last year. We imported a total of US$8.8 billion worth of goods from the Golden State in 2015. That's a 3.3 per cent increase over the 2014 figure. We are hopeful that this growth momentum would continue, taking trade between California and Hong Kong to another new high in 2016," Ms Chow said.
Also speaking at the reception, Hong Kong Commissioner for Economic and Trade Affairs, USA, Mr Clement Leung, said that the Hong Kong economy is forecast to grow at about 2.4 per cent thanks to a healthy job market with an unemployment rate of 3.3 per cent, strong domestic consumption and investment spending.
"Hong Kong is still a prime beneficiary of the reform, liberalisation and development in Mainland China. We overtook New York again last year as the number one stock exchange for initial public offerings, raising US$33 billion for 82 companies. We have helped link up Chinese and international investors through the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect and mutual recognition of funds. We have set a new record with nearly 8,000 overseas and Mainland companies choosing Hong Kong for their regional operations - 1,400 of them are US companies," Mr Leung said.
Looking ahead, Mr Leung said he expects that Hong Kong will have another challenging year in 2016 because of the uncertainty in the global environment. However, he noted that there are reasons to be optimistic because, as recognised by the International Monetary Fund, Hong Kong's economic fundamentals, banking system, financial infrastructure and regulatory standards are strong and resilient.
Mr Leung and Ms Chow will be in Los Angeles on February 24 to host the second spring reception on the west coast.
Ends/Tuesday, February 23, 2016
Issued at HKT 14:28
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