“In the 1980s I was responsible for the government’s efforts to facilitate and promote foreign investment. This was a time when inward investment flows reached an all-time high.

Promoting inward investment highlighted the incontrovertible fact that Hong Kong has always been dependent on external circumstances and decisions; whether it be the value of the Japanese yen (in the 80s), or China’s development (today), and whether decisions are business-driven or diplomatic.

Hong Kong today, more than ever before, is responsible for its own destiny. I think we are still coming to terms with this and it’s not just our government that has to adapt to new circumstances.

My work with the Business and Professionals’ Federation and the Yangtze Council brings this home on a daily basis. These two privately-funded, non-profit organisations have a common thread in their aims to strengthen and support the Hong Kong business community’s key task of adapting its business model for the mainland and of finding new ways to add value to that relationship as the mainland itself becomes more competitive.

The expected impact of China’s entry to WTO will clearly help to create additional opportunities for Hong Kong’s business community, to exploit new flows of business which are going to develop both in terms of foreign investment and exports from China.

Foreign investment is driven by the market and the need to get closer to market opportunities. There can hardly be a city in the world where market awareness is so strong as in Hong Kong. Go into any bar or club and it’s amazing how switched on people are to world business and currency news. Again, it’s the function of our externality and the constant need to look outwards.

While the government is rightly fostering a spirit of innovation, one of Hong Kong’s great strengths is its ability to seize quickly a business opportunity. This can only be done if one can travel widely at short notice, and keep abreast of fast-moving developments, as Hong Kong business people are so able to do.

Scientific and technological development in China is very strong and as the mainland becomes more accessible, Hong Kong is exceptionally well placed to seize this new opportunity; to adapt, commercialise and finance a whole new source of original research.

Three words summarise what makes Hong Kong special for me: convenience, access and productivity. Everything and everybody is close by. Access is a dream – to people, to information, to China and the rest of the world. We have a choice of direct daily flights to just about anywhere, a regional broadcasting hub and more than 130 Internet Service Providers.

And as for productivity, Hong Kong grew on the back of a flexible, intelligent and hard-working manufacturing industry and these qualities are what you now find in the services sector. Now, more than ever, Hong Kong represents value for money.”