KUALA LUMPUR: In conjunction with the benefits brought by the formation of the cross-border economic zone under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Invest Hong Kong (InvestHK) will continue to assist Hong Kong to become the business hub by providing professional and pragmatic business-friendliness service for the enterprises in Hong Kong, China and overseas.

Over the next five to ten years, InvestHK aims to create top ten key industries, namely Transport and Industrial, Tourism and Hospitality, Financial Services (asset management), Maritime, Innovation and Technology, Business and Professional Services, FinTech and Smart City, and then leads Hong Kong to continue its glory and create new business opportunities.

“Hong Kong as the most competitive and number one commercial city in Asia, has become the best place for China enterprises to expand their business to Asia Pacific and overseas. Hong Kong has 35% of start-up companies. Those companies are founded by people from China, Asia, Europe and other places. We can see that Hong Kong is a strong advocate for free trade and open markets,” Director General (DG) of InvestHK, Stephen Phillips said this when he led a delegation to visit the Malaysia-China Chamber of Commerce (MCCC) yesterday. At present, the Malaysian companies that have set up in Hong Kong are PappaRich, Plaza Premium Lounge, Star Cruises, TM and etc.

“Doing business in Hong Kong has diversified advantages, including abundant international capital, high level of enterprise governance and supervision, conducive in listed companies’ fund raising, simple, transparent and stable tax regime, probity law, open and transparent system, free circulation of information, strong talent pool, sharp market sense, familiar with Chinese mainland business and international business and etc.” Phillips pointed out.

“Hong Kong is the fourth largest destination in the world for foreign direct investment (FDI), attracting a total investment of USD 108 billion last year. We have world-class intellectual property protection system. In recent years, Hong Kong is committed to R&D innovation and knowledge-intensive industries. Next, it will be followed by stem cells, regenerative medicine, intelligent wearable equipment, robots and other advanced technologies, to complete the re-industrialization of Hong Kong,” Phillips added.

At the same time, in order to break through geographical restrictions, Hong Kong is still actively building a new economic circle, including utilizing the Guangzhou–Shenzhen–Hong Kong Express Rail Link to connect to the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

In the BRI, Hong Kong Former Chief Executive, Leung Chun-ying pointed out that Hong Kong is expected to become a strong connection and global market bridge for mainland China and other participating countries of the BRI. In addition, Hong Kong can assist China enterprises to invest in other countries and also bring in investment, techniques and talents to China by providing professional services.

“The logistics industry in Malaysia will flourish with the emerging e-commerce industry,” Phillips said optimistically.

“Moreover, Malaysia’s education has attracted well-known universities such as Xiamen University and etc. Malaysia’s competitive healthcare industry is also well known to foreigners. The healthcare, tourism and other services industries have promising future,” Phillips added.

Tan Yew Sing, President of the MCCC, who received the delegation, hoped that InvestHK will participate in the 7th Malaysian Entrepreneurs Conference (MCEC 2017) which will be held on 25 November at the Putrajaya International Convention Centre (PICC).

“We believed that Malaysian businessmen are interested to invest in Hong Kong and we suggest InvestHK to set up an exclusive session at MCEC 2017 so that there could be face to face interaction and business matching to achieve better result,” Tan said.

In addition, Phillips is also interested in the ‘Malaysia-China Trade and Investment Guide’ which will be published by MCCC soon. The Guide is to assist Malaysia and China businessmen and investors to understand Malaysia-China laws and regulations, taxation system, financial system and investment opportunities.