Better Hong Kong Foundation Delegation Briefs U.S. Opinion Leaders on Hong Kong’s New Growth Initiatives

A delegation of Hong Kong business and government leaders has just returned from a visit to the United States where they met with a wide range of public and private sector opinion leaders. The visit, which was organized by the Better Hong Kong Foundation, was led by Nellie K.M. Fong, Executive Councillor of the Hong Kong SAR and Chairperson of the Foundation’s Executive Committee.

According to Mrs. Fong, “there was great interest in what Hong Kong is doing to address the regional economic crisis and there was widespread recognition that steps we are taking to strengthen our financial markets, develop our information technology capabilities, increase our focus on education, and carry out important reforms in the structure of our civil service will position Hong Kong well for renewed growth.”

The delegation, which also included Andrew Sheng, Chairman of the Securities and Futures Commission, Daniel Fung, former Solicitor General of Hong Kong, Richard Li, Chairman and Chief Executive, Pacific Century Group, Richard Wong, Director, School of Business and Professor of Economics at the University of Hong Kong, and George Yuen, Chief Executive of the Better Hong Kong Foundation, visited New York City, Boston, and Washington, D.C. from March 18th through the 24th.

Mr. Sheng addressed members of the financial community in both New York and Washington and there was great interest in reforms Hong Kong is making in its securities market, particularly in the proposed merger of the Stock and Futures exchanges. The delegation also held meetings with the New York Stock Exchange, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Moody’s Investors Service, and Standard & Poor’s, in addition to a number of leading financial firms.

Mr. Li had meetings with a number of business leaders to discuss how the new Cyberport will enable Hong Kong to attract leading international information technology firms to expand their Hong Kong operations. During his meetings, he was able to relay that companies such as Microsoft, Intel, IBM, Hewlett Packard, Oracle, Legend, and Yahoo, had already expressed interest in taking part in this major new project.

The members of the delegation also met with political leaders in Washington, including members of the Senate Banking Committee and the House of Representatives Asia-Pacific Subcommittee. Sessions were also held with the Institute of International Finance, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Commodities and Futures Trading Commission, the Economic Strategy Institute, the Recording Industry Association of America, the U.S. Information Technology Office, and the Congressional Research Service.

During the visit, Mr. Daniel Fung held discussions with American Bar Association and law professors in leading U.S. universities. In those talks, he was able to review post-handover developments in Hong Kong’s legal system and the continued importance of the rule of law.

Professor Richard Wong joined the delegation in Washington D.C. and contributed significantly to discussions on Hong Kong’s economic outlook and its long-term strategy for economic development.

The Boston leg of the visit enabled the group to meet with members of the academic and business communities at Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the Biotechnology Process Engineering Center.

During meetings throughout the visit, the delegation emphasized the importance of the stabilization of the Japanese yen for financial recovery throughout Asia. In addition, they communicated their view that China’s accession to the World Trade Organisation would also serve as the catalyst for a genuine and comprehensive improvement in the U.S.-China relationship and would help contribute significantly to growth in the global economy.

Commenting on the scope of the visit, Mr. Yuen said, “Maintaining and developing relationships with U.S. opinion leaders is essential to ensuring that key audiences understand that Hong Kong remains a vital and integral part of the international business network. Our visit updated our contacts on how Hong Kong is leading the Asian recovery and the role that we will be playing once the region returns to a period of dynamic growth.”

Mrs. Fong summed up the results of the visit by saying that “it is clear that Hong Kong is still seen as vital to any Asia-Pacific business strategy and the strong links we have with the American public and private sectors are key to an even stronger U.S.-China relationship.”

 

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The Better Hong Kong Foundation is a privately funded, not-for-profit, non-political organization formed by leading Hong Kong business people. The Foundation aims to reinforce Hong Kong’s role as the leading regional financial, shipping, trading and communications center. It also serves to enhance greater international understanding between East and West and to facilitate communication between Hong Kong and China and the international community.