John Lee Highlights Hong Kong's Role as 'Super Connector' at Kuwait Business Luncheon

Speech by CE at Partnering for Success - Hong Kong as a "Super Connector" and "Super Value-adder" High-level Business Luncheon in Kuwait (with photo/video)

Following is the speech by the Chief Executive, Mr John Lee, at the Partnering for Success - Hong Kong as a "Super Connector" and "Super Value-adder" High-level Business Luncheon in Kuwait today (May 14):

Your Excellency Khalifa Abdullah Dhahi Al-Ajeel Al-Askar (Minister of Commerce and Industry of Kuwait), Excellency Ambassador Zhang Jianwei (Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the People's Republic of China to the State of Kuwait), Excellency Mr Rabah Al-Rabah (Director General of Kuwait Chamber of Commerce and Industry), distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,

As-salamu alaykum. Good afternoon. It is a great pleasure to be with you today in Kuwait, home to one of the world's largest oil reserves, and a country as committed to talent development as it is to economic diversification.

This is our second day in your resplendent capital, Kuwait City, where past, present and future - in design, culture, lifestyle and so much more - come together like no other city in the world.

Yesterday, I was honoured to havemet with His Highness Sheikh Meshal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, theAmir of Kuwait; His Highness SheikhSabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah, the Crown Prince of Kuwait; His Excellency SheikhFahad Yousuf Saud Al-Sabah, Acting Prime Minister of Kuwait, and other senior government officials. I thanked them sincerely for the time, interest and hospitality they have shown us, from the moment we arrived in Kuwait. Kuwait has generously arranged for our government delegates to stay at Bayan Palace, a majestic landmark in Kuwait City. I reaffirmed to them the commitment, and sincerity, of Hong Kong and Mainland China in strengthening relations with Kuwait.

Yes, I am delighted to be here. So too, are the business and professional leaders with me, a delegation counting some 30 Hong Kong business and institutional heads, together with high-profile representatives of over 20 Chinese Mainland companies from seven provinces and municipalities across the country.

The delegation brings with them wide-ranging expertise, and invaluable experience, from both Hong Kong and Mainland China, in green development, and innovation and technology, including advanced manufacturing, artificial intelligence, new energy and materials, health and smart city evolution. They also offer Hong Kong's wealth of experience in finance, infrastructure, transport and logistics, as well as global business operations and deal-making.

We are here to better understand the opportunities of Kuwaiti business and investment. To explore how Hong Kong, Mainland China and Kuwait, working together, can create long-term mutual opportunities.

We're also here to explore closer ties with the Gulf Cooperation Council (Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf, GCC), which, as all of you know, includes Kuwait. Kuwait currently holds the presidency of the GCC, wielding significant influence in the region's development.

Our ties run deep and far. China, our country, and Kuwait established diplomatic ties in 1971 - making Kuwait the first GCC country to do so. Last year, trade between China and Kuwait reached well over US$16 billion.

Kuwait, I'm pleased to note, was the first country in the Middle East to sign a Belt and Road co-operation document with China. From of the Central Bank of Kuwait's headquarters building and housing projects, to telecommunications and smart city developments, Chinese enterprises have participated in numerous infrastructure and business projects here.

Hong Kong treasures its trade ties with Kuwait, too. Last year, our bilateral merchandise trade totalled US$200 million, up more than 21 per cent over the year before.

Hong Kong's trade with the GCC last year reached nearly US$20 billion, up 53 per cent over the past four years. And that robust growth is underpinned by our mutual will to advance trade ties.

Thanks to our internationally recognised professional services sector, Hong Kong is a pivotal player in the Belt and Road Initiative. In 2023, we included a Middle East Forum, for the first time, at our annual Belt and Road Summit. And we continue to feature Middle East speakers and guests at the Summit.

Hong Kong's Belt and Road Summit will take place in September this year. As earlier the Chairman of the Trade Development Council (Hong Kong Trade Development Council) said, it's our 10th anniversary Summit, and I invite you all to join us, to take part in a world of Belt and Road opportunities - in business, investment and more.

And the Asian Financial Forum, Hong Kong's flagship event bringing together prominent leaders in finance and business sectors, hosted its first GCC Chapter this January.

Yes, the ties between Hong Kong and the Middle East continue to grow and diversify.

They include the launching of the Middle East's first two exchange-traded funds tracking Hong Kong stocks. Hong Kong is partnering with a Middle East sovereign wealth fund, too. Together, we are committed to jointly establishing a US$1 billion fund, investing in companies connected to Hong Kong and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

The Greater Bay Area, let me add, is a cluster city development that brings together Hong Kong, Macao and nine southern cities in China. The fast-integrating regional economic powerhouse presents a collective GDP (Gross Domestic Product) that closely rivals the world's 10th largest economy.

Hong Kong has much to offer Kuwait. Asia's financial hub and one of the world's three biggest financial centres, Hong Kong is also the world's largest offshore Renminbi business centre. Coupled with our Islamic finance experience, Hong Kong is a trusted partner in your project financing - today and long down the road.

Free trade is among our great competitive advantages, fuelling our success for the past two centuries. Hong Kong is a free port, and we will continue to be a free port. Like our country, we are a vocal advocate of a multilateral, rules-based global economy, in spite of mounting protectionism and geopolitical tensions.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is a testament to our "one country, two systems" governing principle at work.

Under the principle, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region has its own legal, legislative and judicial systems. Our legal system is a common law system, similar to that in many major financial hubs around the globe. We maintain our own currency, with no capital or foreign exchange controls. Information, capital, goods and people flow freely in Hong Kong.

The principle of "one country, two systems" also gives Hong Kong unparalleled access to our country's markets and wide-ranging opportunities. It allows us, as well, to pursue our longstanding ties with the world at large, the Middle East very much included.

As today's luncheon title, Partnering for Success: Hong Kong as a "super connector" and "super value-adder" emphasises, we do more than connecting companies and people. We also add value to their businesses, their services and their future.

With companies and investors from Mainland China, and all over the world, looking for a financial haven in this time of global economic uncertainty, Hong Kong is flourishing, and keen to work with you, our partners.

An international financial newspaper, spotlighting the Hong Kong Exchange and its record quarterly profits, recently noted that Hong Kong has, and I quote, "benefited from a spate of initial public offerings and rising interest from Mainland Chinese and global investors in Hong Kong-listed shares, especially of technological-related companies, driven by optimism over China's progress in artificial intelligence".

That speaks of Hong Kong's "one country, two systems" advantages working for you - linking a world of investors to the secure and rapidly growing Chinese market.

It helps, and greatly, that Hong Kong's economy is inextricably tied to our common law system and a judiciary that exercises its powers independently, a legal regime that resembles many of the world's leading financial hubs. They give international companies and investors - Kuwait certainly included - all the confidence and the certainty they need to do business, in Hong Kong and throughout China. Kuwait certainly included.

Ladies and gentlemen, I'm pleased to note that during our visit, Hong Kong and Kuwait have reached consensus on 24 concrete deliverables, through MOUs and related agreements. A ceremony will take place in just a moment.

The agreements cover a broad range of collaboration, from trade and the economy, to investment promotion, financial services, aviation and the maritime industries, post-secondary education, the legal profession, sports and more.

And our customs authorities will commence negotiations on the mutual recognition of respective Authorized Economic Operator Programmes. This will create smoother, more convenient international links for our respective companies, making it much easier to do business together.

Our Airport Authority Hong Kong will soon sign a new MOU with Kuwait Airways, aimed at enhancing air connectivity between the two regions, fostering operational excellence, supporting sustainability, and advancing talent development in the aviation sector.

They will lay a solid foundation for long-term collaboration between our two economies and our two peoples.

That just touches on our growing co-operation. Indeed, we are now looking into opening a second Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in the GCC region, to manage our many ongoing Middle East projects and prospects in the offering.

One key area is boosting merchandise trade between our economies. Hong Kong, I'm pleased to say, has signed Comprehensive Double Taxation Agreements with five of the six GCC states. We have also entered into Investment Promotion and Protection Agreements (IPPAs) with three of the states, with Kuwait being the first. We have also substantially concluded negotiations on an IPPAwith Qatar, our previous stop on this trip, and commenced negotiations with another state.

Indeed, our burgeoning trade and investment co-operation, I believe, could well add momentum to the possibility of a free trade agreement between Hong Kong and the GCC. I look forward to our continuing discussions with the Council.

Beyond business and investment connectivity, there is boundless promise, too, in co-operating in sectors such as arts and culture.

Yesterday, we had the pleasure of visiting the dazzling Sheikh Abdullah Al Salem Cultural Centre, one of the world's largest museum complexes. Seeing, firsthand, Kuwait's compelling commitment to arts, culture and science. I must add that Kuwait is this year's Arab Culture Capital, presenting nearly 100 activities as part of the country's cultural celebration.

Like Kuwait, Hong Kong believes in the primacy of arts and culture. Meanwhile, Hong Kong's West Kowloon Cultural District is rising as one of the world's largest cultural developments. And we are committed to becoming the world's East-meets-West centre for international cultural exchange. That very much includes Kuwait and the Middle East in general.

My thanks to our Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in the Middle East and the Hong Kong Trade Development Council for organising today's welcome gathering. And to the Kuwait Direct Investment Promotion Authority and the Kuwait Chamber of Commerce and Industry for kindly supporting us on this memorable occasion.

Ladies and gentlemen, I know you will enjoy today's luncheon. Including, let me add, a musical performance by TroVessional, a Hong Kong group dedicated to Cantonese and Chinese ethnic music, brought to engaging life with classic Chinese instruments.

Enjoy it and thank you!

Speech by CE at Partnering for Success - Hong Kong as a "Super Connector" and "Super Value-adder" High-level Business Luncheon in Kuwait (with photo/video) Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

Speech by CE at Partnering for Success - Hong Kong as a "Super Connector" and "Super Value-adder" High-level Business Luncheon in Kuwait (with photo/video) Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

Speech by CE at Partnering for Success - Hong Kong as a "Super Connector" and "Super Value-adder" High-level Business Luncheon in Kuwait (with photo/video) Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

Speech by CE at Partnering for Success - Hong Kong as a "Super Connector" and "Super Value-adder" High-level Business Luncheon in Kuwait (with photo/video) Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

Speech by CE at Partnering for Success - Hong Kong as a "Super Connector" and "Super Value-adder" High-level Business Luncheon in Kuwait (with photo/video) Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

Speech by CE at Partnering for Success - Hong Kong as a "Super Connector" and "Super Value-adder" High-level Business Luncheon in Kuwait Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

Speech by FS at CUHK EMBA Annual Conference

Following is the speech by the Financial Secretary, Mr Paul Chan, at the CUHK EMBA Annual Conference today (May 9):

Professor Dennis Lo (Vice-Chancellor and President, the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK)), Professor Lin Zhou (Dean, CUHK Business School), Macy (Chairperson of Organizing Committee, Ms Macy Chan), Michael (Chairperson of Organizing Committee, Mr Michael Chan), CUHK EMBA alumni and students, business leaders, distinguished guests and friends,

Good evening.

Addressing a room full of Executive MBA students and graduates is both an honour and a privilege. There is a particular kind of ambition in this room — one that is not content with success alone, but driven to understand it more deeply, in the belief that better ideas lead to greater impact.

That kind of commitment — to learning, to growth, to asking harder questions — is precisely what today's conversation is about.

The theme of this conference, which focuses on innovation and agile leadership, could not be more timely. Most of us here have lived through the Internet age and the smartphone revolution, which made communication faster and more seamless than anyone had imagined.

Today, the rise of AI places us at a more fundamental tipping point. Technology is not merely changing the answers — it is redefining the questions themselves.

Consider what is already within reach. An AI assistant can learn your preferences, curate a personalised shortlist, and simply ask for your confirmation. We should even ask whether the smartphone and the search engine will remain our primary gateways to the digital world, or whether something altogether new is already taking shape.

To draw an analogy, the power of technology does not lie in drawing the old map with greater precision. It lies in revealing how much of that map remains uncharted — and in showing us that entirely new maps, with new co-ordinates, are being drawn.

This redefinition is unfolding across three dimensions simultaneously.

First, the redefinition of products. Products are no longer discrete, standalone objects. A smart car is a vehicle, but also a mobile platform for data. An insurance policy can be a contract, but equally a dynamic reflection of health data. Innovation today is born from cross-sector convergence and continuous evolution.

Second, the redefinition of services. Services are no longer delivered solely by enterprises. They emerge from collaborative networks of people and AI. But the more profound shift is in what customers now expect. In the past, good service meant reaching the right person quickly. Today, customers expect a solution that anticipates their needs before articulating them. This requires a new architecture of service delivery: human and machine, with AI handling the scale, the speed, and the personalisation that no human team alone could sustain.

Third, and most importantly, the redefinition of business models. In the past, we sought optimal solutions within established frameworks — when demand rose, we expanded capacity; when service needs grew, we opened more branches. Technology invites us to break out of those frameworks entirely. Intelligent manufacturing means that "economies of scale" is no longer the only answer; flexible supply chains have made customised, on-demand production the new normal.

These three redefinitions are opening a commercial frontier unlike anything we have seen before. But if the benefits of technology accrue only to a small circle, its power remains fundamentally constrained. This brings me to the second message I want to leave with you today: inclusivity.

Inclusivity is not charity. Yet it is the smartest business strategy available. The unmet needs of the broader public represent the largest and most underserved market opportunity in existence. When you make quality healthcare, education and financial services accessible and affordable to ordinary residents, you are not serving a group in need of handouts — you are unlocking a vast market that traditional business models have consistently overlooked.

Hong Kong has a distinctive role to play here. We can be a co-architect of standards, a hub for capital, and a bridge between innovation and real-world deployment — from clinical validation of smart healthcare, to green technology financing, to regulatory sandboxes for fintech. Our contribution draws not only on institutional strengths and international networks, but on our genuine commitment to broad-based participation.

Yet inclusive products and services are only the first step. The deeper dimension is empowerment.

History reminds us that the dividends of technological revolution need to be actively guided to reach the many. In the age of steam, and again in the Internet era, early gains concentrated among capital owners and top-tier talent. But today we have the opportunity to write a different story. AI, as an amplifier of human capability, is already enabling what was previously unimaginable: a solo entrepreneur, with the right tools and the right vision, can build a unicorn.

In other words, the unit of competitive advantage is shifting — from the size of your team to the skill with which you orchestrate your tools.

Our mission should be to make that shift available to everyone. To turn individual readiness into collective prosperity, and to ensure that the productivity gains of AI flow broadly across the society.

This is precisely why, in this year's Budget, I placed such emphasis on the "AI Training for All" initiative.

We are not trying to turn everyone into an engineer. We are ensuring that workers, managers, SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) owners, and ordinary residents become capable collaborators with AI: people who can access it, use it effectively, and put it to work as their assistant.

That may sound ambitious, but consider this: if AI can one day be as intuitive as the smartphone, then mass adoption is not difficult to imagine at all. Just as computers once migrated from specialist facilities into offices and homes, AI will find its way into everyone's daily work and life.

For business leaders, it may be tempting to think of AI as "digital employee" that can replace existing workers. But think of a different framing: equipping your workforce with powerful digital assistants can achieve productivity gains, while also freeing your people to do what humans do best — create, imagine and innovate.

Companies that take those extra steps, and think those extra moves ahead, will find that an empowered workforce is also a more innovative one.

All in all, the power of technology must ultimately be measured by its contribution to inclusive growth. And inclusive growth, in the end, depends on, yes, commercial acumen — but also empathy, compassion, and the conviction that a rising tide should lift all boats. I can see that those qualities live in this room.

I will close with this thought. Someone once joked that economists know the price of everything and the value of nothing. With AI, let us never fall into the same trap — in our race to price every efficiency gain, let us not lose sight of the deeper value we are trying to create: a society where the fruits of innovation are broadly shared, and where technology lifts not just the fortunate few, but everyone willing to reach for it.

So here is my ask: let us grow the pie together. And make sure we cut it well.

Thank you very much.

Source: AI-found images

Speech by FS at CUHK EMBA Annual Conference Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

Speech by FS at CUHK EMBA Annual Conference Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

Source: AI-found images