160+ Hong Kong Business to take part in the Import Expo, showing eagerness for foreign investment
Commerce minister stresses city’s role as strategic gateway to country
Over 160 Hong Kong businesses will take part in the inaugural China International Import Exposition in November, with the country’s biggest trade fair of the 2018 prepared to demonstrate the country’s eagerness for foreign investment.
Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Edward Yau Tang-wah said Hong Kong had been and would continue to be a strategic gateway and important hub connecting China to the world.
A sum of 2,800 companies from a total of 130 countries are expected to take part in the exposition in Shanghai, from November 5th until the 10th. In contrast to its traditional approach, this year’s event is aimed at touting foreign companies selling to China.
“Our involvement in this expo has demonstrated our mission as the country’s most open and international city,” Yau said recently. “Hong Kong was the first gateway for the country when China launched reforms and opened up 40 years ago.”
“Hong Kong has always played a unique role over the years” according to the minister.
Some 80 countries are due to take part in the expo’s pavilion for countries to highlight their achievements in developing trade and investment, with the Hong Kong exhibition area being arranged inside the China pavilion by the government, Yau noted with a focus on the “Hong Kong IN” theme which helped “bring in” the country.
In addition the exposition with feature multimedia technology, including 3D mapping that will show Hong Kong’s major infrastructure projects, products and inventions, as well as its participation in national development strategies such as the trade-focused Belt and Road Initiative and the “Greater Bay Area”, which aspires to integrate Hong Kong, Macau and nine cities in Guangdong province into an innovation hub rivaling Silicon Valley.
“The country’s doors will only open wider and wider to foreign investment,” Yau quoted Chinese President Xi Jinping as saying at the Boao Forum for Asia in April.
“As the largest import market in the world … our country’s move to further open up the market is a positive message to the multilateral trade system,” Yau said.