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HK: Gateway to Asia

October 31, 2014

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Financial Secretary John Tsang

The vibrant Italian business community in Hong Kong has played a significant role in our economic development. More than 150 Italian companies have a presence in Hong Kong. Italian companies are well represented in Hong Kong. They range from leading international companies to SMEs and start-ups of all kinds.

 

Italian restaurants and food shops are particularly visible on the streets of Hong Kong, and in the malls. And nothing goes better with fresh pasta or crossiants than Italian wine. Indeed, last year Hong Kong imported 3.1 million litres of Italian wine. That accounted for more than 6 percent of all our wine imports. And the opportunities for boosting those numbers are excellent, since I abolished, once and for all, all wine duties in 2008. Since then, Hong Kong has emerged as the region's hub for wine-trading as well as for wine distribution.

 

So if Hong Kong is the city where West meets East, it does so with a decidedly Italian flavour.

 

The growing Italian presence in Hong Kong reflects the business promise of Asia, particularly the business potential of the Mainland China and the emerging ASEAN economies. It also underlines Hong Kong's role as the natural springboard to these buoyant markets. Consider, for example, your trade with Mainland China. Last year, it came in at US$5.1 billion. Of that total, 11.5% was routed through Hong Kong.

 

Hong Kong has long been the global business centre of Asia, the city where talent and capital come together.


Consider our prime location and sophisticated infrastructure. We are strategically located at the heart of Asia - at the doorstep of Mainland China and the ASEAN region. Half the world's population can be reached within five hours' flight time of Hong Kong. If you don't have an atlas handy right now, that covers all of China, along with Japan, Korea, most of the ASEAN countries and even eastern Russia. Every day, about 800 flights connect Hong Kong and these regional destinations, with hourly services to a dozen Asian destinations.

 

It should not surprise you that some 7,500 overseas and Mainland Chinese companies have a presence in Hong Kong. More than half of them are regional headquarters and regional offices.

 

We are geographically, we are culturally and economically connected to the Mainland, the world's fastest-growing economy, with a rapidly expanding consumer market. Hong Kong business people are the biggest foreign investors in every province of the Mainland. We know the Chinese market better than anybody else in the world.

 

We are also a key player in the emerging ASEAN economies, home to some 600 million people, and a young and ambitious workforce together with a growing middle class. In Hong Kong, you can always find ready partners, knowledgeable professionals and valuable advisers to help expand your business into the Mainland and Southeast Asia.

 

At the same time, Hong Kong is an international business and financial services centre, blessed with fundamental strengths familiar to many Italian business people. We make it easy for you to explore the Asian region's lucrative business opportunities.

 

The Hong Kong way is your way. Ours is a system based on the free flow of news and information, based on the free flow of people and capital. In short, we bring to the world, to Italy, both global standards and unlimited Asian opportunities.

 

We, in Hong Kong, follow the common law legal system, which is fearlessly guarded by our vocal and unfettered media. Judicial independence is guaranteed by the Basic Law, which is our constitution. We even invite senior judges of other common law jurisdictions to sit on our Court of Final Appeal in making an ultimate judgment on cases. And we embrace the internationally recognised codes of practice, in business and commerce, familiar to all of you.

 

Our government is clean and efficient. We do not tolerate corruption. In a latest annual survey, only 1.2% of respondents said they had experienced some form of corruption in the past year. This proportion is low, even among advanced economies.

 

We also guarantee a level playing field for all companies. Big or small, local or international, they are all treated equally. Foreign firms, like their local counterparts, can enjoy the same privileges under our bilateral trade agreements. That includes CEPA, our unique free trade agreement with the Mainland. CEPA offers preferential treatment in accessing a wide array of service sectors across the country. I encourage Italian companies to look to CEPA and its advantages in exploring Mainland markets.

 

Capital flows freely in Hong Kong. And that has helped make us one of the world's leading financial centres, ranked currently third behind New York and London in the latest Global Financial Centres Index.

 

We are the world's premier offshore renminbi centre. From personal banking services and bond issuances to trade settlement and financing, and the marketing of innovative investment products, Hong Kong plays a critical role in the renminbi's process of internationalisation.

 

Hong Kong is a major asset management centre as well. Assets managed from Hong Kong amounted to more than US$2 trillion at the end of last year, which is an increase of 27% over the 2012 total. Whether you are an experienced fund manager or looking to enhance your assets, Hong Kong is where you want to turn to.

 

Hong Kong is also the window on the world for Chinese consumers and a lifestyle trendsetter for the Mainland and Southeast Asian consumers. Last year, more than 54 million people visited Hong Kong. That is more than seven times our total population. Over 40 million of them came from the Mainland, with about 9 million visiting from the rest of Asia.

 

Many of them came to Hong Kong for one, and just one, compelling reason: to shop, to buy brand-name products from all over the world, and to imitate the trends set in Hong Kong. Italian brands are particularly visible, and in sectors ranging from luxury goods to food and wine.

 

These advantages, together with our central location, our sophisticated transport networks and highly efficient customs procedures, have helped make Hong Kong Asia's logistics hub.

 

Financial Secretary John Tsang gave these remarks at the Opening Session of the Think Asia, Think Hong Kong symposium in Milan.



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