San Francisco audience told of HK's bright future

Firm confidence has been expressed in a bright future for Hong Kong, with speakers at an event in San Francisco highlighting the region's achievements while celebrating the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to the motherland.

The event, drawing an audience of 150 on Monday, was staged by the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in the California city.

Jacko Tsang, director of the office, told those in attendance, including China's Consul General in San Francisco Zhang Jianmin, US officials, scholars, and business and community leaders, that "our 25th anniversary carries the theme, 'A New Era－Stability, Prosperity, Opportunity'".

Since the inception of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in 1997, the region has made "impressive achievements over the past two and a half decades", said Tsang. "It also underscores our eager anticipation for and confidence in a brighter future. We continue to be the premier international business and trade center in Asia."

Despite the adversity caused by the pandemic and gloomy global economic prospects, Hong Kong's economy is showing signs of a revival.

In a recorded keynote speech at the event, Algernon Yau, the secretary for commerce and economic development of the HKSAR, said "the foundation of Hong Kong's unique advantages is 'one country, two systems', the political, economic and social arrangement enshrined in our Basic Law, which was implemented since Hong Kong's return to the mainland 25 years ago".

Hong Kong was the world's sixth-largest exporter of merchandise in 2021 and 2020, according to the World Trade Organization. It is also the world's fourth-largest IPO fundraising market, with $42.3 billion raised through initial public offerings last year.

Freest economy

"Notably, we remain the undefeated champion as the world's freest economy in the past 25 years," said Tsang.

As a leading international financial center, Hong Kong is "underpinned by a healthy fiscal reserve, which has doubled compared with 25 years ago", said Tsang.

Hong Kong ranks third in global foreign direct investment inflows, which amounted to $140.7 billion last year, behind the United States ($367.4 billion) and the Chinese mainland ($181 billion), according to the UNCTAD World Investment Report 2022.

By the end of last year, the stock market in Hong Kong ranked the fourth largest in Asia and the seventh largest in the world. Total market capitalization reached $5.4 trillion, an increase of nearly 13 times compared with 1997.

A global offshore renminbi business hub, Hong Kong was the largest offshore RMB clearing center in 2021, handling 76 percent of the world's RMB payments, according to SWIFT, a financial messaging service.

"Of the world's top banks, 78 have operations in Hong Kong," Tsang said.

"Compared to 1997, our economy has more than doubled in size. Our airport cargo throughput increased almost three times, making us the world No 1 air cargo hub last year," said Tsang.