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To celebrate the Chinese New Year, the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in San Francisco (HKETO) hosted a spring reception in Dallas, Texas today (February 25, Dallas time).
Speaking to the guests, the Director of the HKETO in San Francisco, Ms Subrina Chow, said 2015 was a good year for trade between Hong Kong and Texas, and the economic ties between the two regions remain strong. "Last year, Texas was the third largest exporter to Hong Kong among all 50 states. Our city of 7.3 million residents and 60 million visitors imported a total of about US$2 billion worth of goods from the Lone Star State in 2015. That's a 6.6 per cent increase over the 2014 figure. And if we look back over the past five years, merchandise exports from Texas to Hong Kong have grown by a total of US$582 million, an almost 40 per cent increase. We are hopeful that this growth momentum would continue, taking trade between Texas and Hong Kong to another new high in 2016," Ms Chow said.
In addition to trade, the cultural ties between the two regions are also strengthening. Last year, the HKETO was a sponsor of two film festivals in Dallas. A Hong Kong film was featured as one festival's centrepiece.
The Hong Kong Commissioner for Economic and Trade Affairs, USA, Mr Clement Leung, echoed Ms Chow's comments, saying that Hong Kong's bilateral partnership with the US is strong. "Last year, we bought over US$37 billion worth of goods from the US," he said, adding that 1 400 US companies were among the nearly 8 000 overseas and Mainland Chinese companies that chose Hong Kong for their regional operations.
"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," he continued.
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 Hong Kong's economic fundamentals, banking system, financial infrastructure and regulatory standards have been recognised by the International Monetary Fund as strong and resilient.
Ends/Friday, February 26, 2016
Issued at HKT 11:26
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