September 12, 2024
HONG KONG – With the high-profile Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) now entering its next golden decade, Hong Kong’s role as a “super-connector” and “super value-adder” has taken on new significance.
Top officials from the Chinese mainland and the special administrative region lauded the city’s entrenched status as a premier business and commercial hub and a pivotal link to the rest of the world, pledging to expand the city’s role in bolstering the country’s Belt and Road vision.
“Hong Kong, the nation’s most open and international city, is perfectly positioned to play a pivotal role in realizing the visionary goal of the Belt and Road Initiative,” Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu told the ninth Belt and Road Summit in Hong Kong on Wednesday.
Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) Chairman Peter Lam Kin-ngok echoed similar sentiments. “As the most important city of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and the gateway to the vast Chinese mainland market, Hong Kong can facilitate many opportunities across Asia and beyond,” he said.
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First mooted by President Xi Jinping in late 2013, the massive initiative — extending from the Eurasian continent to Africa and Latin America, with more than 150 countries and 30-plus international organizations signing over 200 pacts by June 2023 —, is now entering what Lee described as “the next golden decade”.
The flagship summit itself is believed to be recognized by the central government “as a key global gathering for advancing economic, trade and investment cooperation under the initiative”, Lee said in his opening remarks.
As a tribute to the 75th anniversary of the nation’s founding, this year’s summit has been themed “Building a Connected, Innovative and Green Belt and Road”.
Echoing a global push for innovation and sustainability as the key driver of common development and shared prosperity, the theme came as a strong response to the eight major steps announced by President Xi Jinping at the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing last year to support the collective pursuit of high-quality Belt and Road cooperation with participating countries.
Li Yongjie, deputy international trade representative of the Ministry of Commerce of China, told the conference that the BRI has injected a fresh bout of vitality into international collaboration and will usher in a new era of trade and growth for global economies.
Numbers speak volumes. Between 2013 and 2023, China’s trade in goods with Belt and Road economies has surged from $1.6 trillion to $2.8 trillion. During the same period, China’s direct investment in economies along the routes has hit more than $280 billion, according to Li.
Gou Ping, vice chairman of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council of China (SASAC), said that over the past few years State-owned conglomerates under the supervision of the SASAC have taken part in more than 5,000 projects in Belt and Road economies, with a value of more than $1 trillion.
Hong Kong, seen as the pivotal point of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road — which together link the mainland with Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Europe through vital inland routes and sea lanes, representing the two major arms of the BRI, — has long served as a great contributor, a significant partner and an active participant in getting these endeavors off the ground, Gou noted.
Over the BRI’s first decade, the city’s external trade with economies along the routes other than Chinese mainland has surged by almost 60 percent — 3.8 times the growth rate of its trade with all economies, according to Lee.
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In 2023 alone, Belt and Road economies accounted for more than 43 percent of Hong Kong’s external trade, in value, with the rest of the world other than the Chinese mainland. This stands in stark contrast to less than one-third in 2013, Lee added.
“On the back of the country’s unshakable resolve to press ahead with high-quality development and high-level opening-up, Hong Kong’s indispensable connectivity and impeccable strength, as always, will come into sharp focus and be given full play, with the initiative charting the course of the next decade,” said Xiao Weiming, deputy secretary-general of the National Development and Reform Commission of China.
Such ambitions were underscored by the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in July this year.
“Unremitting efforts and unwavering commitment will be made to sharpen and enhance Hong Kong’s long-cherished edge as a world-renowned center in finance, shipping and trade, for its bigger role in the great story that is currently unfolding,” Li said.
As the city leads the charge in issuing the world’s first tokenized government green bond and the world’s first multi-currency digital green bond in 2023 and 2024, respectively, Gou voiced his optimism about the meaningful impact that Hong Kong’s vibrant and diverse sustainable finance market could have on the BRI.
Xiao said he was confident that Hong Kong – having the best of both worlds – would capitalize on its role as a multicultural exchange and talent hub to tell the tale of Belt and Road in a more vivid manner.
The two-day Belt and Road Summit, jointly organized by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government and the HKTDC, has drawn nearly 6,000 participants from 70 countries and regions. More than 300 delegates representing 38 State-owned enterprises from the mainland joined the gathering, making it the largest-ever delegation from State-owned enterprises since the establishment of the annual event in 2016.