Xinhua News Agency, Hong Kong, September 11th title: Ten-year outlook for the "Belt and Road" Summit Forum: Cooperation seeks change and builds the future together

Xinhua News Agency reporters Cao Jiyang and Liu Yinglun

The 10th "Belt and Road" Summit Forum came to an end in Hong Kong on the 11th. This forum is themed "Cooperation to seek change and build the future together", and gathered more than 6,000 participants to discuss development opportunities in many aspects such as commerce, investment, innovation and science, and green development.

After ten years of hard work, the fruits are abundant. As a flagship project for Hong Kong to participate in and help jointly build the "Belt and Road", the "Belt and Road" Summit Forum has gone through an important milestone in ten years. Since the first Belt and Road Forum was held in 2016, more than 45,000 people from more than 120 countries and regions have attended the meeting and promoted more than 2,800 projects to jointly build the Belt and Road, creating a common vision through cooperation and connectivity.

Standing at a new starting point, all parties look forward to this important platform continuing to promote Hong Kong to deepen connectivity in all aspects and in multiple fields, create more cooperation opportunities, and continuously inject new momentum into the high-quality joint construction of the "Belt and Road".

Give full play to your unique advantages to build a flagship platform

Participants generally believed that the forum has become an important commercial and investment platform for promoting cooperation in Hong Kong, mainland and overseas enterprises in jointly building the "Belt and Road" project. Over the past decade, Hong Kong's role and role have been continuously improved, and it has played a good role as a "super contact person" and "super value-added person" in jointly building the "Belt and Road".

Zhura Sumano, secretary-general of Thailand's "Eastern Economic Corridor" Office, told Xinhua News Agency that Hong Kong has always been one of the main sources of investment in Thailand's "Eastern Economic Corridor". In the future, the "East Economic Corridor" will focus on the development of emerging fields such as medical care, digital technology and green economy. Hong Kong has gathered funds, talents and technologies from these industries to efficiently empower specific projects and help improve the construction of related industrial chains.

At present, Hong Kong has signed free trade agreements with 14 countries that jointly build the "Belt and Road", investment agreements with about 20 economies that jointly build the "Belt and Road", and comprehensive double taxation agreements with 37 tax jurisdictions that jointly build the "Belt and Road".

In 2023, Hong Kong's foreign direct investment in the joint construction country exceeded US$133 billion, 3.6 times that of 2013. In 2024, the commodity trade volume between Hong Kong and the countries jointly built reached US$276.1 billion, an increase of nearly 78% from 2013. About 1,400 companies from countries that jointly build the "Belt and Road" have established bases in Hong Kong.

The financial field is also full of highlights. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority and the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund jointly invested to create a fund with a target size of US$1 billion. The Kazakh Development Bank issued RMB 2 billion dim sum bond in Hong Kong, the first RMB bond issued by a government-controlled entity in Central Asia. At present, more than 100 companies jointly built the "Belt and Road" have been listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Hong Kong's professional service industry is comprehensive and in line with international standards. Secretary for Justice of the SAR Government, Lam Ding-kuo, said that Hong Kong can provide "one-stop" legal services covering the entire process for the joint construction of the "Belt and Road" project, and will protect the entire process from the start-up to the implementation of the project. Hong Kong has international, trustworthy and high-level legal professionals who are capable of striving for the best interests of their clients.

Adding innovative elements to create new opportunities

During the forum, "cooperation and change" became a hot word. Added key projects for jointly building the "Belt and Road" to facilitate Hong Kong enterprises and professional services to follow up on business opportunities for ASEAN and Middle East projects; set up a new focus market link with the title "Focus on the Middle East and ASEAN markets" to explore potential business opportunities; increase exchange elements with young business leaders; the exhibition area has set up the "ASEAN Zone" for the first time... The forum has added more new elements than previous years to create more cooperation opportunities.

"We must have an attitude of 'seeking change' and a spirit of 'cooperation'." said He Lizhi, a specialist in the "Belt and Road" Office of the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government.

Xu Zhengyu, Director of the Financial Affairs and Treasury Bureau of the SAR Government, said that Hong Kong provides safe and efficient ways for overseas enterprises to relocate to Hong Kong, and sincerely invites enterprises to use Hong Kong as a strategic base to promote the joint construction of the "Belt and Road".

It is understood that this forum has promoted about 50 memorandums of cooperation between government and enterprises, setting a record high. In addition, the forum’s investment project segment displays more than 300 investment projects. The "Belt and Road" Global Project Matching Conference has arranged more than 800 one-to-one project Matching Conferences, committed to creating more consultation and cooperation opportunities for participants.

Zhula believes that the Belt and Road Forum has built a good investment promotion platform for the construction of the "Eastern Economic Corridor". Every year, it can be "face-to-face" with hundreds of potential partners from all over the world, which means reaching more mutually beneficial and win-win cooperation.

Deepen connectivity and work together to create the future

Li Jiachao, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, said that under the "one country, two systems", Hong Kong continues to deepen international exchanges and cooperation with "backed by the motherland and connected the world", give full play to the advantages of core professional services such as international financial and trade centers, legal and aviation and shipping hubs, and serve as an important portal for Hong Kong to "bring in" and "going out". We look forward to the "Belt and Road" Summit Forum continuing to promote Hong Kong's all-round and multi-field efforts to deepen the connectivity of countries in jointly building the "Belt and Road" and lay a solid foundation for future international cooperation.

Renat Bekotulwov, president of Kazakhstan Astana International Financial Center, said that Hong Kong connects to global financial markets, has strong financing capabilities and a mature regulatory system, while Kazakhstan provides a portal to Central Asia and other emerging markets. Currently, more than 850 Chinese companies have been registered at Astana International Financial Center, of which more than 200 new companies have been added this year. He looks forward to the cooperation between Kazakhstan and China in the fields of energy transformation, green infrastructure, digital innovation and private exchanges, and jointly shape the pattern of jointly building the "Belt and Road".

Not long ago, the World Intellectual Property Organization released the "2025 Global Innovation Index" Top 100 Innovation Clusters, and the "Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou" cluster ranked first in the world for the first time. As a key hub of the global innovation network, many mainland technology companies have used the Hong Kong platform to "go global" to promote scientific and technological innovation in the joint construction of the "Belt and Road".

Luo Binghong, technical director of Hong Kong Anheng International Co., Ltd., said: "By accumulating experience and consolidating the foundation in Hong Kong, we have significantly reduced the uncertainty and risk of going directly to overseas. We are currently actively relying on Hong Kong to expand and jointly build the project cooperation and business docking of enterprises in countries with "Belt and Road" to accelerate the company's "going global"." (End)