HKSAR leader to visit Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam

Hong Kong Special Administrative Region aims to enhance its role as a "super-connector" in the Belt and Road Initiative, said its Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu.

Lee made the comments in the middle of a Tuesday event, during which he said he will lead a delegation to visit three countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, a move which is widely deemed as an effort of the SAR to establish wider networks and explore business opportunities in the economy.

Lee said that he will visit Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. Members of the delegation include senior business representatives from the commercial, financial, transportation, logistics, legal and creative industries.

Lee said that it will be his third visit to ASEAN countries in his term of office.

"Hong Kong attaches great importance to cooperation with ASEAN," Lee said, adding that ASEAN is Hong Kong's second-largest trading partner. Last year, trade in goods between Hong Kong and ASEAN stood at $144.6 billion — nearly 13 percent of Hong Kong's total external trade.

Lee said that in the upcoming trip, the delegation will continue to solicit the three countries' support for Hong Kong's accession to the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.

He added that Hong Kong will fulfill its roles as a "super-connector "and "super value-adder", and deepen collaboration with economies involved in the Belt and Road Initiative, which he believes has greatly boosted Hong Kong's development.

Experts from the Hong Kong Trade Development Council — a public body offering advisory services to local businesses — said they saw Hong Kong's greater role in helping Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam find capital and achieve economic diversification.

Laos, which is recovering from a recession due to COVID-19, welcomes further investment to strengthen its capacity to generate power from renewable sources, as exporting electricity is an important source of trade income for the landlocked country, said Henry Cheung, an economist from the council.

Cheung said Cambodia plans to build more digital infrastructure such as a wider 5G network for an economic transition, and Hong Kong's robust financial technologies can play a supportive role in assisting the endeavor.

Edmund Lo, another economist from the council, said Hong Kong's green financial markets and international connectivity may support Vietnam in implementing green infrastructure projects aimed at achieving its net-zero goal by 2050.

William Xu contributed to this story.