Gateway to China

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World-class facilities: Hong Kong has some of the most modern venues for meetings and conferences, most notably the island’s state-of-the-art Convention and Exhibition Centre.

On September 21, Hong Kong played host to some of the major players in global finance at the Asian Financial Forum. Carrying the theme ‘Leveraging New Opportunities, Advancing Regional Stability', more than 700 global institutional investors, financial service institutions and major corporations gathered at the conference to discuss the current volatility in the global financial system, and to address the looming questions surrounding China's integration into the world's capital markets.

In his opening speech, Hong Kong's chief executive Donald Tsang outlined the developments of the Asian financial market over the past decade, the implications these developments had brought about, and the work ahead to meet the challenges of the future. "Over the past decade, we have seen two very positive developments in the region," he said. "They are the growing significance of Asia in the world market, particularly the emergence of China and India; and the considerable progress made by many regional economies to strengthen their financial markets and infrastructure."

Tsang also repeated the often-heard panoply of characteristic that make Hong Kong an ideal financial services hub, a platform for foreign investments in China, and an international outlet for mainland companies. He said that following the return of Hong Kong to China, "all of our core values and core strengths remain intact, as intended. The rule of law upheld by an independent judiciary, a clean and efficient government, a level playing field for business, the free and unfettered flow of information, low taxes, no capital controls, freely convertible currency, highly-educated workforce, and a broad, deep pool of professional talent in key services sectors." These are precisely the qualities that all developing economies in the GCC are striving for, making Hong Kong the ideal model on which to base regional economies. Its story is a tale of diversification and resilience that many developing countries can learn from.

It is hard to believe that 150 years ago Hong Kong was described as a ‘barren rock'. Today, the 6.9 million residents of Hong Kong live in the world's freest economy and one of the leading financial, trading, and business centres.

In 1997, after 150 years of British rule, Hong Kong became a Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China. Many locals and expatriates were wary of heavy Chinese influence and of China's promise that the relationship will be under the ‘one country, two systems' concept where Hong Kong controls all aspects of its governance except foreign affairs and defence matters. 10 years later, the concept seems to be working; Hong Kong enjoys a high level of autonomy from the Chinese mainland, and commercial, political and personal freedoms are protected by Hong Kong's constitution.

The future growth projections for Hong Kong mirror that of China and the two economies are becoming increasingly linked. Hong Kong shares a boundary with one of China's fastest growing manufacturing regions, the Pearl River Delta that includes booming cities such as Shenzhen, Guangzhou, and Jiangmen. The region dominates the world's supply chain for light consumer goods, garments and accessories. Given that Hong Kong operates the world's busiest container and international air cargo ports, it is the natural export platform of the Pearl River Delta region.

Both business and leisure tourism in Hong Kong are on the rise. A total of 25.3 million visitors, or 3.7 times the size of the local population, came to Hong Kong in 2006, representing an 8.1% increase from 2005. These numbers are set to increase further - Hong Kong is within five hours flying time of half of the world's population, and its airport efficiently operates 4000 passenger flights each week to more than 140 destinations.

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