(Q2): Work on attracting enterprises and investments
MR CHAN CHUN-YING:
Thank you, President. I have noted from the main reply that the Middle East was not among the top five sources of inward investment into Hong Kong during the first four months of this year. However, as we all know, we attach great importance to this market. The above situation may be attributed to the differences between Muslim religious culture and Hong Kong’s commercial practices and laws and regulations.
May I ask the authorities whether they will formulate differentiated strategies to attract enterprises and investments from the Middle East market, taking into account its cultural and legal characteristics, so that Middle East countries will soon be among our top five sources of investment? Thank you.
SECRETARY FOR COMMERCE AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT:
First of all, I would like to thank the Member for his supplementary question. To begin with, let me share some figures. I strongly agree with Mr CHAN Chun-ying’s earlier remarks that the Middle East market is very important to us and has enormous development potential. As I mentioned in the main reply earlier, of the 539 enterprises that established their business here last year, 66 were from Belt and Road countries, with around 15% originating from the Middle East market. Looking at trade volumes between the Middle East and Hong Kong, there was actually an average growth of more than 9% in 2024 as compared to 2020. Therefore, I very much agree with Mr CHAN Chun-ying that we need to formulate more targeted strategies. For example, InvestHK already has an Arabic-language website, and we will also employ Arabic-speaking colleagues locally to carry out work on attracting enterprises and investments directly, with a view to enhancing efficiency.
Furthermore, the Chief Executive has already made two visits to the Middle East market during the current term of the Government. As Members may have read in the media, our recent visits to Qatar and Kuwait have achieved very satisfactory results. Enterprises participating in this outbound mission engaged in very active exchanges with local enterprises and exchanged many contact details. We believe that in the future, whether it is people-to-people exchanges or trade and investment exchanges, our relationship with the Middle East will yield further results and further strengthen our partnership. Thank you, President.