Speech by SLW at Symposium of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Talent Development Showcase (English only) (with photo)
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Datuk Ng (President of the Associated Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Malaysia, Mr Ng Yih-pyng), Datuk Yap (Vice President of the Associated Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Malaysia, Mr Yap Heng-or), Professor Dr Andriyana (Director of International Relations Centre of Universiti Malaya, Professor Dr Andri Andriyana), distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,
Good morning to you all, 早晨 (good morning in Cantonese), 早上好 (good morning in Mandarin). I am really pleased to join you today at this Symposium as we celebrate our enduring friendship between Hong Kong and Malaysia. Clearly this is a relationship built on family ties, cultural bonds, and I am sure, a shared prosperity. And by shared prosperity, I am coming today not just with my own Government team, I am also coming together with hosts of companies, many of them are household names.
Let me just cite some of them, including the HSBC, Bank of China, Huawei, China Lights and Power, Manulife, MTR, PCCW, the Sino Group, the Sun Hung Kai Properties, the Chow Tai Fook Life, and also together with me the accompanies of Governemnt officials from Guangdong and Macao. We are coming here together as a big team to Malyasia.
Clearly, as I can experience in the past two days, when I am in this great city, our special bond is all around us, be it through cultural language, as I keep on hearing Cantonese, Mandarin, English and other languages that I could not comprehend but I know is very prevalent here in Malaysia. Everyday, your professionalism across all sectors helped build to what you are today.
Let me give you a few figures of the very close ties between Hong Kong and Malaysia. In 2024, Malaysia was Hong Kong's eighth largest trading partner, and ranked third in terms of trade in goods with Hong Kong among the ten ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Member States.
Clearly, this synergy between us extends further through broader co-operation, and that co-operation is between our mother country China, and Malaysia. The trade linked between China and Malyasia totals US$200 billion. This is a hugely successful trade partnership that brings both benefits to China and Malaysia. And of course, Malaysia is a very important key supporter of the Belt and Road Initiative, demonstrating clearly the lasting friendship, the support and also the vote of confidence Malaysia has given us over the Belt and Road.
Together, we are building stronger co-operation that transforms businesses, industries, and lives of people. Through the Belt and Road Initiative as well as China-ASEAN co-operation, we have created thousands of jobs, pioneered groundbreaking technologies, and delivered transformative infrastructure projects like the 665-kilometre East Coast Rail Link uniting the Peninsular Malaysia, and the future-facing Malacca Gateway Port set to become Asia's next great maritime hub.
The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), as the world's largest trade bloc, provides new platforms for Malaysian entrepreneurs and Chinese innovators to grow together. Now we stand at the dawn of an exciting new chapter, as we just saw from the video, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, well-known in abbreviation, the GBA.
The GBA has a population of nearly 90 million. Hong Kong is uniquely situated and positioned in this exciting area to serve dual roles. First of all, as China's gateway to Southeast Asia, and also as Malaysia's springboard to the vast opportunities within China's domestic markets.
As a "super connector" between Mainland China and Malaysia, Hong Kong leverages its unique geographic position, institutional strengths, and cultural advantages.
Like Malaysia, Hong Kong is multilingual, fluent in Cantonese, English and Mandarin, this ensures a very smooth integration of Malaysian talent coming to Hong Kong. With world-class universities in both Hong Kong and Malaysia, we are intensifying our joint research efforts in transformative fields like AI (artificial intelligence) and biotechnology.
To further strengthen this ecosystem, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) Government has recently established a high level Committee, which is chaired by the Chief Secretary for Administration, the Committee on Education, Technology and Talents last year. I am the one providing full support to the Chief Secretary.
The Committee's aim is to align with Hong Kong's strategic positioning in "eight centres" developments. We are accelerating our transformation into a global innovation and technology hub while reinforcing our well-established pillars in finance, shipping and trade.
The vision of the Committee is clear: to build Hong Kong into an international hub for high-calibre talent, while supporting the Greater Bay Area's high-quality development.
In the following session, our partners will showcase how businesses and professionals can succeed throughout Hong Kong and the entire GBA cities.
As a last remark, as the rules-based global trade order we have known and taken for granted for decades, is being shattered by the brutal force of the tariff war that is still unfolding before our eyes, it seems that the only certainty of the future is uncertainty. At this moment of great turmoil and uncertainties, I think it's all the more important for us to rely more on the trust and friendship between good friends, and this is what Hong Kong and Malaysia are. I am certain if we hold and join hands together, we are going to weather the storm, grow and strive together, in that process we will create wealth and forge new ground, this is certain.
With all these remarks, I wish the Symposium a great success, and I hope for all the young people here, if you are looking for development opportunities in Hong Kong and the GBA, there is nothing more important than going to the Career Fair concurrently held at the showcase, where there are hundreds of jobs awaiting you.
Thank you very much.
Ends/Saturday, April 12, 2025
Issued at HKT 14:52
Issued at HKT 14:52
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