Business Leaders seek to strengthen EU-HK partnership (hktdc.com)

Business Leaders seek to strengthen EU-HK partnership ( 01/06/2005 )


Chairman of the HK-EU Business Co-operation Committees Dr Raymond Ch'ien (left) with Chairman of the EU-HK BCC Rod Eddington

European and Hong Kong business leaders committed to explore together rapidly expanding opportunities in their respective markets at a recent high-level meeting in Brussels.

The 6th Joint Plenary Session of the EU/Hong Kong and Hong Kong/EU Business Co-operation Committees was the culmination of a series of events held in the EU capital highlighting China's enormous potential as a market for European companies and Hong Kong's role as a value-adding gateway into and out of the mainland.

The meeting was jointly chaired by Rod Eddington, Chairman of the EU/HK Business Co-operation Committee and Chief Executive of British Airways plc, and Dr. Raymond Ch'ien, Chairman of the HK/EU Business Co-operation Committee and of MTR Corporation Limited. The Committees, which comprise the leaders of major companies in Hong Kong and Europe, aim to promote and expand bilateral trade and investment and mutual understanding.

European members briefed the meeting about the improved export performance of the EU, and its vision to build a stronger and more dynamic relationship with Asia. Members also discussed the increased trade and investment opportunities in the EU which one year after the enlargement is the world's largest market, exporter and foreign investor.

Meeting emphasizes Hong Kong's role


TDC Executive Director Fred Lam (3rd from left) joins members and speakers at the HK/EU and EU/HK Business Co-operation Committees held in Brussels

The meeting noted Hong Kong's further development as a knowledge economy and as a catalyst for introducing new ideas and know-how into Asia. Members identified three crucial roles of Hong Kong in the region as a financial services centre, a supply chain management hub, and a technology marketplace.

Discussing European investment in China's manufacturing and services sectors, members noted that a significant number of EU companies oversee their mainland operations from regional headquarters in Hong Kong or in partnership with Hong Kong companies.

Members were updated on the evolving Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (Cepa) that gives qualified Hong Kong companies and their overseas partners enhanced access to the Chinese mainland market. In his message of support, President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, said that Hong Kong continues to respond with dynamic initiatives to developments in today's global marketplace, adding that Cepa "provides a platform for third-party businesses to access the world's fastest growing market with the benefits of Hong Kong experience and expertise."

Professor Michael Enright, of the University of Hong Kong's business faculty, briefed the meeting on the "Pan-PRD" initiative that envisages the development of a regional economic grouping comprising nine provinces in the south of China plus the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau. Hong Kong can act as an intermediary linking the Pan-PRD with the EU and the rest of the world, he suggested.

A seminar entitled "The Hong Kong advantage - Trading products, ideas and technology with China" organised by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (TDC) and chaired by Piet Steel, Vice Chairman of the Federation of Hong Kong Business Associations Worldwide was also held.

The Federation is a network of 30 Hong Kong Business Associations in 23 countries with over 9,000 individual associates. These Associations were set up by traders, buyers and professionals with strong business links to Hong Kong, for the purpose of networking and exchanging business information and ideas.

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