The press conference of 2013 China Urban Competitiveness Report (Hong Kong) was successfully held in Hong Kong on 20 May 2013. It was organized by the Better Hong Kong Foundation and co-organized by Center for City and Competitiveness of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Led by Prof. Ni Pengfei of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the theme of this year’s report is “New Standards: Ideal City of Sustainable Competitiveness”. The press conference was chaired by the Foundation’s Executive Director Ms. Karen Tang where Prof. Ni gave a presentation on the report and further explained the overall competitiveness of Hong Kong.
The top ten cities in the Comprehensive Economic Competitiveness Index in 2012 are Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Shanghai, Taipei, Guangzhou, Beijing, Suzhou, Foshan, Tianjin and Macao. Hong Kong keeps the top position in comprehensive economic competitiveness but the speed of growth is slowing down. Hong Kong also has a top position in sustainable competitiveness but is weak in the sub-index of knowledge-based city.
Concluding the press conference, Ms. Karen Tang, Executive Director of the Foundation commented that “Hong Kong is a developed city and the overall performances on various areas are satisfactory. However, the financial crisis is still deepening, and the world economy is facing downturn while the international trade protectionism is arising. Nevertheless, the Asia-pacific region maintains a relatively rapid growth and China becomes the driving force for development. Urbanisation in the Mainland China is fast and with improvements. Hong Kong should assess the environment carefully so as to map out long-term strategies and short-term measures to cope with global changes as well as to seize every opportunity.”
Please refer to the PowerPoint presentation of the press conference for highlights of the report.
The Foundation’s Executive Director Ms. Karen Tang (right) and Prof. Ni Pengfei presenting the report to Hong Kong media