Speech by DCS at Canada Day Reception (English only) (with photos)
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Consul General Reeves (Consul General of Canada to Hong Kong and Macao, Mr Charles Edwin Reeves), Deputy Commissioner Li Yongsheng (Deputy Commissioner of the Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region), distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,
Good afternoon! It is a great pleasure to be here with you, in honour of Canada Day, the country's 158th anniversary.
Today, we stand together to celebrate the deep and longstanding connections between the people of Canada and the Hong Kong SAR, who have forged strong ties from business and commerce to social, culture and family.
Less than two months ago, Canada held its federal election. I would like to take the opportunity to congratulate Canada on smoothly holding the election and returning its 24th Prime Minister. I am delighted to note that, just two weeks ago, Prime Minister Carney (Prime Minister of Canada, Mr Mark Carney) spoke on the phone with Premier Li Qiang of our country. Both leaders emphasised the enormous potential in China-Canada co-operation and their determination to reset bilateral ties. This augurs well for the bilateral relations between the two nations and between Canada and Hong Kong in the foreseeable future.
And there is so much to work together for - from safeguarding free trade and the multilateral trading system, to promoting sustainable development and building ties in any number of sectors. For this promising agenda, Hong Kong definitely has a role to play and contribute. Under the great concept and national policy of "one country, two systems", Hong Kong, as a Special Administrative Region of China, benefits from national programmes such as the Belt and Road Initiative and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. Another good example is the country according Hong Kong the position of the "eight centres" in the National 14th Five-year Plan, which has opened up a wide array of new opportunities for the relevant sectors in Hong Kong, such as finance, I&T, trade, aviation, logistics, arts and cultures and so on. The opportunities are not only for Hong Kong; they are also open to overseas companies, including Canadian enterprises, which use Hong Kong as a "super connector" and "super value-adder" between Mainland China and the rest of the world.
Canada has a strong presence in Hong Kong. There are about 100 Canadian firms maintaining offices in Hong Kong across a broad spectrum of sectors, of which 20 are financial institutions, and some - such as Manulife and Sun Life - have been doing business in the city for more than 100 years. The Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, with over 2 400 members, is also the largest Canadian Chamber outside Canada.
We thank the Canadian community and businesses for placing importance on Hong Kong. I am pleased to say that, in spite of the many changes in the external environment, Hong Kong has maintained its resilience and robustness. We still rank as the world's freest economy in the Economic Freedom of the World 2024 Annual Report; our IPO (initial public offering) market is bustling with the highest number of IPOs recorded worldwide last month, recording $76 billion raised from new share offerings so far in 2025; we are the largest offshore RMB business hub, handling 80 per cent of offshore RMB transactions; and just this week, we are ranked the world's third most competitive economy in the 2025 IMD (International Institute for Management Development) World Competitiveness Ranking. In short, Hong Kong remains a favourable place to do business.
In addition to doing businesses, it is heartening to see that our co-operation bears fruit in other areas such as arts and culture. Last September, our Cultural and Creative Industries Development Agency organised a delegation to the Toronto International Film Festival, to promote location filming in Hong Kong; and six Hong Kong films were screened at the "Making Waves - Navigators of Hong Kong Cinema" touring film programme in Montreal in October. And in April this year, six Canadian films and co-productions were screened at the 49th Hong Kong International Film Festival.
I look forward to making more waves, to more Hong Kong-Canadian co-operation - not only in film and the creative industries, but also in business and finance and every other sector, for our economies, our communities and our flourishing future.
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for having me on this joyous occasion. Happy Canada Day!
Thank you very much.
Ends/Friday, June 20, 2025
Issued at HKT 16:02
Issued at HKT 16:02
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