Speeches

Gala dinner for HKSAR 20A in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia

Following is the speech by the Permanent Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development (Commerce, Industry and Tourism), Mr Philip Yung at the gala dinner co-organised by the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Jakarta and the Hong Kong-Malaysia Business Association (HKMBA) to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the Establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia today (August 8):

Counsellor Shi (the Economic and Commercial Counsellor of the Embassy of People's Republic of China in Malaysia, Ms Shi Ziming), Datuk Isham Ishak (Deputy Secretary General (Trade) of the Malaysian Ministry of International Trade and Industry), Dixon (President of the HKMBA), Distinguished Guests, friends, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good evening.

It’s my great pleasure to be here with you all in Kuala Lumpur tonight in the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

I hope you enjoyed the videos being shown on the screen just now. One of the videos is made specifically for the 20th anniversary. I believe many of you would recognize the singers and the scenes in the video.

Let me, first of all, express my heartfelt thanks to the Hong Kong Malaysia Business Association for co-organising with our Economic and Trade Office in Jakarta to make this dinner happened tonight.

During my conversation with you just now, I am amazed of how updated some of you are with the development in Hong Kong. So for those of you who are familiar with Hong Kong, I hope there is still something new for you to take away and for those who are less so, let me give you a snippet of Hong Kong’s development in the past 20 years.

Since the return to its motherland, Hong Kong has made considerable progress in the last 20 years, under the unique arrangement of “One Country, Two Systems”.

It is clear that under the “One Country” principle, Hong Kong is a part of China. This has given us advantages available to no other economy. For example, Hong Kong’s products and services enjoyed preferential access to the huge Mainland market provided under CEPA, that is the Closer Economic Partnership Agreement, between Hong Kong and China. We are also the world’s largest offshore Renminbi business hub, handling more than 70 per cent of the world’s offshore Renminbi transactions settlement.

We are the place that foreign investors can access the Mainland’s capital markets and financial products through the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect, the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect, the Bond Connect, as well as the Mainland-Hong Kong Mutual Recognition of Funds arrangement.

At the same time, because of the “Two Systems” principle, we retain our capitalist economic and political systems. We continue to practice the indispensable building blocks for Hong Kong's sustained success and prosperity, including an open and free market, an efficient and clean public sector, a robust institutional framework, freedom of speech and travel, free movement of goods and capital, a simple and low tax regime, a deep pool of multi-cultural and talented businessmen and professionals, and a fine tradition of rule of law, underpinned by an independent judiciary.

Despite significant regional and global challenges over the past 20 years, Hong Kong continues to sparkle and our position as the international financial centre in Asia is further strengthened. In fact, for the past 15 years, we consistently ranked top five globally and was ranked number one in the past two years in terms of funds raised through initial public offerings.

We are proud that our achievement is recognized internationally. For instance, the US-based Heritage Foundation has named Hong Kong the world’s freest economy over the past 23 years.

And for the past two years, the World Competitiveness Yearbook, published by the International Institute for Management Development in Switzerland, has selected Hong Kong as the world’s most competitive economy.

But, we do not stop at here. In the years to come, Hong Kong will progress further by playing an important connecting role in Mainland China’s Belt and Road Initiative.

For instance, in the nearer future, two mega infrastructure projects, the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge and the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link, will be completed, thus further enhancing Hong Kong’s connectivity with the Mainland and enlarging our hinterland.

And construction is now underway to expand the airport into a three-runway system, which will double our cargo throughput capacity to nine million tonnes a year, and passenger capacity to 100 million per year.

Hong Kong is friendly and accessible to all, of course including individuals and businesses from Malaysia and ASEAN. We treasure our close ties with Malaysia and other ASEAN countries.

ASEAN as a whole is Hong Kong’s second-largest trading partner. As a matter of fact, to us, ASEAN is more important than other major markets including the USA and the EU, in terms of trade. Just Malaysia alone is our 10th largest trading partner, with bilateral trade volume amounted to US$ 15.2 billion (MYR 65 billion) last year.

As you are aware, Hong Kong and ASEAN have been negotiating a free trade agreement for more than three years. The negotiation is close to completion and we are hopeful of signing the FTA before the end of this year. This FTA will bring our relations in terms of trade and investment to a new height.

The Hong Kong Government established a new Economic and Trade Office in Jakarta in June last year. Headed by Mrs DO, the Director-General, the Jakarta ETO represents the Hong Kong SAR Government in matters between Hong Kong and ASEAN as a whole, and handle in particular bilateral matters between Hong Kong and Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei and the Philippines. Mrs DO and her colleagues will work closely with you all for the mutual benefits of Hong Kong and Malaysia.

The theme of our anniversary celebration is "Together • Progress • Opportunity". This epitomizes our relationship with Malaysia. Let’s stay strong together to achieve our goals, progress together and make the most of new opportunities in the coming years.

Thank you for being with us tonight. I wish you all an enjoyable evening. Thank you very much.

Ends/Tuesday, August 8, 2017