Contribute Hong Kong's strength to the high-quality joint construction of the "Belt and Road"

Sina News Sina News Official Account 09.1506:42

The 10th "Belt and Road" Summit Forum, jointly organized by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government and the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, was recently held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. The forum lasted for two days, with more than 6,000 participants, including more than 90 political and business leaders and hundreds of delegations from countries and regions jointly building the "Belt and Road" initiative. Participants discussed various development opportunities in trade, investment, innovative technology, and green development, and promoted about 50 memorandums of cooperation between government and enterprises, setting a record high, demonstrating Hong Kong's role as a functional platform for the "Belt and Road".

Promote dialogue and cooperation

The "Belt and Road" Summit Forum has been held since 2016. It is the flagship project of Hong Kong participating in and helping jointly build the "Belt and Road" and has become the largest and most important commercial and investment platform for Hong Kong, mainland and overseas companies to promote cooperation in the "Belt and Road" project. This forum is themed "Cooperation to seek change and build the future together", adding new elements such as key projects, focus markets and building a sustainable development platform.

In his speech, the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Li Jiachao, said that over the past 10 years, more than 45,000 guests from more than 120 countries and regions have participated in the forum, displaying and promoting more than 2,800 projects for jointly building the "Belt and Road" and creating a common vision through cooperation and connectivity. Hong Kong is an ideal hub and preferred cooperation platform for the "Belt and Road". It has the dual "super advantages" of "super contact person" and "super value-added person", which will inject endless innovation momentum and strategic value into capital projects and continue to promote the high-quality development of the joint construction of the "Belt and Road".

Hong Kong Trade Development Council Chairman Ma Shiheng delivered a speech that the Belt and Road Forum has gathered leaders in the political and business circles over the past 10 years to promote multi-party dialogue and cooperation. Many important partnerships have been established, influential projects have been launched one after another, and cross-regional ties have become increasingly close. This forum will continue to focus on promoting cooperation opportunities.

Yan Dong, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Commerce, said in his speech that the Ministry of Commerce will continue to support Hong Kong in leveraging its own advantages in the high-quality joint construction of the "Belt and Road" and achieve mutual benefit and win-win results. First, support Hong Kong to deeply connect with the inside and outside the country and better integrate into the joint construction of the "Belt and Road". Further expand the mainland's opening to Hong Kong's fields of finance, telecommunications, construction, tourism, etc. Research and promote the joint construction of a single free trade zone in the Mainland, Hong Kong and Macao. Support Hong Kong to sign more free trade agreements and investment agreements with foreign investors, join the RCEP as soon as possible (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement) and further expand its foreign economic and trade network. The second is to support Hong Kong in building a functional platform to better serve the joint construction of the "Belt and Road". It will support Hong Kong to consolidate and enhance its position as an international financial, shipping and trade center, and expand the scale of national trade and investment with the joint construction. Support Hong Kong to participate in various economic and trade exhibitions and forums. The third is to support Hong Kong’s project construction and better participate in the joint construction of the “Belt and Road”.

Focus on the ASEAN market

This forum has added key projects to jointly build the "Belt and Road" and launched a focus market link with the theme of "Focusing on the Middle East and ASEAN markets", adding interactive communication elements with young business leaders, and the exhibition area has set up the "ASEAN Zone" for the first time... Many innovative moves aim to explore potential business opportunities and promote more cooperation.

"The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government has expanded Hong Kong's international trade network at full speed." Li Jiachao introduced that he has visited 12 countries jointly built the "Belt and Road" in the past three years, witnessing that Hong Kong and related economies reached more than 160 memorandums of cooperation, cooperation agreements and results. Hong Kong has signed free trade agreements with 14 countries jointly building the "Belt and Road", about 20 economies jointly building the "Belt and Road" and signed comprehensive double taxation agreements to avoid double taxation in 37 tax jurisdictions jointly building the "Belt and Road". Last year, the commodity trade volume between Hong Kong and countries jointly built the "Belt and Road" exceeded US$276 billion, an increase of about 80% from 2013, which is three times the increase in Hong Kong's foreign commodity trade volume during the same period.

Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Sun Zhanto said that the joint construction of the "Belt and Road" initiative brings important resources to local infrastructure construction, promotes key cooperation, and builds a solid foundation for Cambodia's development. Over the past 10 years, with the Belt and Road Initiative and China's support, Cambodia has built more than 3,000 kilometers of roads and 16 major bridges. These projects connect farmers and markets, connect communities and cities, facilitate trade, and become a part of Cambodian life. The joint construction of the "Belt and Road" will inject new impetus into Cambodia's economic development. As an international financial and professional service hub, Hong Kong can play an indispensable role in the implementation of cooperative projects.

Explore development potential

The main forum brings together business leaders to discuss Hong Kong's promotion of joint construction of the "Belt and Road" business cooperation, with themes including new opportunities for ASEAN development cooperation and the potential of exploring new markets and new industries. There are also multiple special group forums covering multiple fields such as legal services, commerce, insurance, construction, green finance and logistics, and discussing how to create a more prosperous, green and connected future for countries and regions related to the "Belt and Road".

In terms of green and sustainable development, the Financial Secretary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, Chan Mo-po, said that the SAR Government is committed to promoting Hong Kong's development into an international green technology and financial center, actively playing a hub role, and promoting global green transformation. In terms of green finance, the SAR government is committed to promoting the development of transformative finance, and at the same time, it meets the different needs of emerging economies through innovative financial products such as catastrophe bonds and infrastructure debt securitization. Hong Kong is also working hard to accelerate its development into a green technology hub and contribute to the regional carbon reduction process with innovative technologies.

In terms of digital innovation, Chan Mo-po said that for the "Belt and Road" related economies and southern countries around the world, Hong Kong and the Mainland provide diversified digital solutions covering financial technology, smart healthcare, cloud computing, sixth-generation mobile communications (6G), and digital city management. Hong Kong has listed artificial intelligence as one of its key development strategies and is committed to building an open, encouraging collaboration and inclusive artificial intelligence ecosystem.

"As the 10th year of the Belt and Road Forum, we must have the spirit of "seeking change" and give full play to Hong Kong's role as a bridge for internal and external connections and a "super value-added person" more pragmatically and specifically." 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, said that first, we will adopt a project-oriented development direction to jointly build new cooperation points, and second, we will improve capacity building. The total amount of agreements and transactions reached in Hong Kong in relation to the joint construction of the "Belt and Road" is nearly US$1 billion, which reflects that Hong Kong is an ideal hub for the "Belt and Road". (Reporter Zhang Pan of this newspaper)

"People's Daily Overseas Edition" (September 15, 2025, Page 04)