HSBC Chairman Sir John Bond says Hong Kong is in excellent shape for the future

Sir John gave his upbeat assessment of Hong Kong at a lunch hosted by the Hong Kong Association of New York in July.

With its world class infrastructure, Hong Kong was the perfect neighbour to the "coming economic miracle of China", he said.

"Hong Kong has much to offer the Mainland - an infrastructure that has been built up over 50 years. It is unlikely China will want to reinvent the wheel. So there is huge potential for Hong Kong to leverage its advanced design capability, logistics, legal system, financial system, its quality of regulation and stock markets."

"These are attributes which take a long time to put in place and are extremely hard to create," he added.

Along with Hong Kong's domestic strengths, Sir John pointed to Hong Kong's increasing market integration with the Pearl River Delta region of southern China.

"One by-product of this shift [manufacturing relocating to the Pearl River Delta] is the creation of a major consumer market on Hong Kong's doorstep. The Pearl River Delta -  Hong Kong, Macau and the neighbouring part of Guangdong Province - has a population of around 40 million consumers. Today, per capita GDP in Shenzhen is now higher than Beijing or Shanghai."

This increasing prosperity, he said, was creating a massive consumer market in the region. "The signs are already there. It has more than 40 golf courses, more than the rest of China put together."

"Ultimately, ever closer integration is what puts Hong Kong in the best possible position to benefit from China's stellar economic growth," he said.

Initiatives such as the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement between Hong Kong and the mainland would, Sir John said, be "a major fillip to growth prospects in the region."

Shrugging off Hong Kong's recent problems, Sir John said, "Hong Kong is in excellent shape for the future, perhaps better than it understands. If you could choose any location with potential for economic growth in Asia and, perhaps the world, then you probably wouldn't look much further than the Pearl River Delta region."

Click here for the full transcript.
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