On the eve of the opening of the 2023 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS), Sima Hong, Vice Mayor of Beijing, took an exclusive interview with Ta Kung Pao, a newspaper outlet.
Hong Kong accounts for over 80% of actual investment in Beijing
Hong Kong has always been Beijing’s largest source of overseas investment and its top destination for outbound investment. From January to July 2023, Hong Kong’s actual investment in Beijing amounted to US$8.89 billion, accounting for 86.6% of the city’s total investment. As of July 2023, the stock of direct investment by enterprises from Beijing to Hong Kong reached US$50.969 billion, making up 48.3% of Beijing’s total stock of outbound investment. Hong Kong has been an important springboard for businesses from Beijing to go overseas. By the end of 2022, Hong Kong had served as the platform for 315 overseas business projects to conduct reinvestment, with an investment stock of US$17.824 billion.
The two cities have engaged in all-round and extensive cooperation
Beijing and Hong Kong have engaged in in-depth and extensive exchanges and cooperation in digital economy, finance, commerce, the Belt and Road Initiative, and youth entrepreneurship, launching two-way investment projects in areas including new energy, science and technology services, and artificial intelligence. These fruitful achievements show that the two cities have created a model of all-round, wide-ranging, and high-level exchanges and cooperation. Going forward, efforts will be made to fully tap into each other’s advantages, create platforms for cooperation and engagement, and explore an approach for the two cities to go global together, so as to further expand their economic and trade relations.
Currently, the two governments are gearing up for the Fifth Plenary Session of the Hong Kong/Beijing Co-operation Conference. The meeting will be co-chaired by the heads of the two governments to jointly plan and promote all-round and practical cooperation in a new phase. With more opportunities for joint development, the two cities will continue to leverage their strengths and complementarity to achieve mutual benefits and serve the need of the country.
Hong Kong people and businesses will receive more support for their development in Beijing
Beijing will introduce a package of supporting measures to attract foreign investment, including providing greater support in key areas such as cross-border data flow and financing. The city will also move faster in foreign investment legislation, to stabilize the expectations of foreign investors. At the same time, talents from Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and foreign countries will be better served in Beijing, with a more enabling environment for both work and life. To this end, Beijing has taken a pioneering step to establish a mechanism for recognizing overseas professional qualifications coupled with supporting policies. Under this mechanism, 110 international professional qualifications and 40 professional qualification examinations are now recognized in Beijing, and more favorable services will be provided to expedite visa (endorsement) approval procedures.
The two cities will continue to deepen people-to-people and cultural exchanges
Beijing and Hong Kong both have a pivotal and unique role to play in China’s overall development strategy and the development of a country with an advanced culture. This year, the Beijing, Hong Kong and Macao Youth Music Art Carnival will resume, which means that more art troupes from Beijing will stage performances in Hong Kong and vice versa. In the first half of this year, Beijing welcomed 32 batches of Hong Kong commercial performance groups with 75 people, and three batches of cultural exchange performance groups with 76 people. In addition, over 70 artists from the Jingju Theatre Company of Beijing also staged performances in Hong Kong.
The two cities will promote cooperation in the application of new technologies
Beijing and Hong Kong will make joint efforts to build the two cities into international science and technology innovation centers and fully leverage national platforms such as CIFTIS and ZGC Forum. The two cities will focus on industries such as life science, artificial intelligence, robotics, nanotechnology, and medicine, as well as new technologies and applications in artificial intelligence, smart transportation, big data, the metaverse, autonomous driving, and intelligent robots. Such in-depth exchanges in science and technology and wider channels for communication will boost sci-tech innovation and connectivity of both Beijing and Hong Kong.
