One week’s work nets about $10.35 billion

When Chief Executive (CE) John Lee stepped off his plane in Hong Kong, he was full of smiles. He had just completed a very successful trade mission to Central Asia worth about HK$10.35 billion and saw the signing of 96 agreements and Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) covering investment, aviation, cultural exchange and customs. Not bad for one week’s work.

Lee was the leader of a 70 member-strong delegation of officials, businessmen and women and cultural managers from both Hong Kong and the mainland. It was an action-packed series of meetings, banquets and visits to the two key Central Asian cities of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
The trip was so successful that Hong Kong’s status as a “super-connector” has been upgraded a “super-value-adder agent,” proactively integrating into the “Silk Road Economic Belt,” and strengthening its functional platform role within the “Belt and Road Initiative.”

There are a number of similarities between Hong Kong and Kazakhstan which make partnerships there more palpable. The Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC), a special economic zone in the capital, applies common law and international arbitration, as well as special tax and currency regulatory regimes, and houses the Astana International Exchange.

A major item on the agenda was with Hong Kong’s three major innovation and technology parks (Cyberport, Science Parks, and Hong Kong-Shenzhen Innovation and Technology Park), who signed a technology cooperation pact with Kazakhstan, enabling mainland technology firms to connect with Central Asia through Hong Kong and advance cooperation in artificial intelligence and digital infrastructure. Kazakhstan will hold a roadshow in Hong Kong to attract investors and professional service institutions next year.

Central Asia can become a strategic logistics hub for Hong Kong as wars in the Middle East and Europe persist, with cargo volume between the city and two countries in the region surging nearly fivefold year on year.

With this in mind, the Hong Kong Airport Authority and Cathay Pacific secured operational agreements with Almaty International Airport in Kazakhstan. Cathay announced that it plans to operate three direct flights per week connecting Hong Kong to Almaty, starting in the first quarter of next year.

Several business entities among the delegation signed individual MOUs with their counterparts in the two countries, covering sectors such as finance, asset management, aviation, media, agriculture and new energy.

MOUs, a common vehicle used for cooperation between parties, are usually non-binding and outline only broad intentions and mutual understanding. These are often upgraded to Memoranda of Agreement (MOA) which is more detailed and often includes legally enforceable obligations.

A number of the agreements were signed by state-backed investment bank China International Capital Corporation Limited (CICC) as well as their Kazakh partners, including one with the Sovereign Wealth Fund Samruk-Kazyna.

The Chinese Manufacturers' Association of Hong Kong, the Federation of Hong Kong Industries and the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce also secured deals.

During the visit, coordinated and promoted by senior Hong Kong government officials, Shandong-based private enterprise Xinfa Group reached an agreement with Kazakhstan to invest about HK$117.5 billion in developing a large-scale industrial park spanning over 3,000 hectares, encompassing the entire industrial chain from mining and smelting to new materials manufacturing. The Hong Kong platform acted as the liaison point for the Kazakh investment negotiations, financing plan coordination and legal framework setup, highlighting Hong Kong’s vital role in supporting mainland asset-heavy enterprises to expand internationally.

For the first time, two local news bodies, the Newspaper Society of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong News Executives’ Association, signed an MOU with one of Kazakhstan’s largest state-owned conglomerates to strengthen collaboration in journalism and information exchange. Separately, the South China Morning Post sealed a partnership with Astana International Financial Centre Authority to boost ties between Central Asia, Hong Kong and mainland China, and entered into an agreement with the Autonomous Cluster Fund “Astana Hub”, alongside Gobi Partners and the Khan Tengri Innovation Hub of China, to strengthen economic and business ties.

The visit exemplified a proactive effort and successful practice in cementing Hong Kong’s positioning and fulfilling national missions. The upgrading from a “super-connector” to a “super-value-adder agent,” proactively integrates the “Silk Road Economic Belt,” and strengthening its functional platform role within the “Belt and Road Initiative.” This aligns closely with the national “15th Five-Year Plan” directives.

“Central Asia could be the next Middle East, becoming a terminal connecting Asia and Europe,” the HK Airport Authority chairman Fred Lam told a radio programme, citing the region’s location sitting between the Middle East and Russia, both of whose cargo businesses were disrupted by military conflicts.

Chief Executive John Lee said the trip had numerous achievements, including cooperation at government level, and expediting consultations on signing a comprehensive double taxation avoidance agreement as well as discussions on an investment protection agreement.

Diplomatically, Uzbekistan agreed to set up a consulate in Hong Kong next year.

It is unlikely for Hong Kong to secure immediate gains from the developing Central Asian region but one can argue that a farsighted view is needed. As the offshore renminbi market continues to deepen, Hong Kong can provide diverse support for enterprises in terms of financing, onshore and offshore bond issuance, and cross-border cash management.

Mark Pinkstone

** 博客文章文責自負,不代表本公司立場 **

It is said that sport promotes a healthy body, a healthy mind…and a healthy economy. In Hong Kong’s case that is worth about HK$51 billion (US$6.5 billion), or 1.5 per cent of our $3.4 trillion (US$ 434.2 billion) gross domestic product.

On top of that, it provides for about 84,000 jobs, according to figures released by the Census and Statistics Department.

Already Hong Kong draws on a fine reputation for hosting international sporting events, such as the Rugby Sevens, ATP and WTA tennis championships, the LIV golf tournament, equestrian events, snooker championships to name just a few. Every month The Leisure and Cultural Services Department’s calendar is filled with sporting events, both local and international, to keep sporting facilities fully booked.

Due to its high class sports facilities, low tax regime, location as the center of Asia and lifestyle appeal, Hong Kong has attracted super stars like snooker champions Ronnie O’Sullivan, Judd Trump and Jimmy White to take up residence here under the government’s Quality Migrant Admission Scheme (QMAS). The Scheme is designed to attract highly skilled or talented persons to settle in Hong Kong to enhance the city's economic competitiveness. Applicants are not required to have secured an offer of local employment before applying for entry or being admitted to Hong Kong for settlement under the Scheme. Accordingly, the trend is continuing as high-profile figures continue to join the city's registry. More than 100 active and retired international athletes have relocated to Hong Kong under these programs in recent years, and officials continue to process applications from prominent global sports icons.

A number of sports events in Hong Kong have been given an “M” (for Mega) ranking by the Major Sports Events Committee for their ability to draw in large international followers, thus adding to the city’s tourism coffers. The ranking is for world-level events and goes with dollar-for-dollar matching grants from the government with funding based entirely on the event’s quality, media coverage and economic tourism potential.

Events which have received the “M” rating, and thus government financial support, includes the ATP and WTA tennis tournaments, rapid and blitz chess championships, international dragon boat races, volleyball nations league, the international invitation horse racing event, fencing world championships and, of course, the famed Rugby Sevens, Rugby Sevens which last year generated some HK$780 million (US $100 million) to the city’s economy.

All “M” events are a magnet for drawing foreign visitors to Hong Kong. For example, the Rugby Sevens earlier this year drew in about 150,000 foreign visitors and rising Filipina tennis star Alex Eala, who has taken the US open by storm, filled the 15,000 seat Wimbledon Centre Court with her fans, many of whom are expected to follow her to Hong Kong for the Prudential WTA Open in November.

Hong Kong’s HK$30 billion Kai Tak Sports Park with its 50,000-seat stadium drew 2.4 million spectators in its first year of operation. The main stadium is built to serve as a multi-purpose mega-venue. Overcoming Hong Kong's unpredictable summer weather it is equipped with a retractable roof and advanced climate control, to host premier sports tournaments alongside massive pop concerts.

Hong Kong’s role in the Greater Bay Area (GBA) provides an ideal opportunity for greater interplay between the nine cities in Guangdong and the Special Economic Zones of Hong Kong and Macao. Prime examples would be the 15th National Games and historic cross-border marathons and cycling races, where athletes seamlessly travel across Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao. The lead for cross-border sport is being taken by the Hong Kong Jockey Club, which has made major proposals in our first Five Year Plan for Economic and Social Development, by transforming the GBA into an international equestrian and equine sports hub.

The club envisions a seamless multi-destination racing tourism circuit that links its world-class facilities in Sha Tin and Happy Valley with the Conghua Racecourse in Guangzhou. To further solidify this ecosystem, the proposals suggest expanding Hong Kong's successful disease-free zone management and biosecurity protocols to other regions in the mainland, such as Xinjiang.

Under this equine hub framework, the club also advocates establishing a World Organization for Animal Health collaboration center in Hong Kong and advancing institutional connectivity by expanding the mutual recognition of veterinary qualifications across the border.

Both the Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and the Culture and Tourism Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area gives a fresh impetus to the development of the tourism industry within the GBA. With the platform of the Tourism Federation of Cities in the GBA, the Tourism Commission has been actively fostering co-operation with the tourism authorities of the Macao Special Administrative Region and the nine Chinese Mainland cities in the GBA in developing more “multi-destination” tourism products.

As the consultation scope of the Five-Year Plan has been wide to incorporate most of Hong Kong’s society, tourism leaders including event organizers, travel agents, hotels and airlines have been promoting an integrated culture-sports-tourism synergy as a total package in fostering tourism to Hong Kong.

By working together as an industry and with our neighbors, Hong Kong becomes an even more attractive sports destination offering packages for foreign visitors to stay longer in this Pearl of the Orient.