Dr Jonathan CHOI Koon-shum (Chairman of the 53rd terms of office) August 2023
The The“four proposals” put forward by President Xi Jinping last year provide crucial guidance for Hong Kong’s long-term development. In the area of creating strong impetus for growth and addressing people's concerns and difficulties in daily life, CGCC has been making active contributions. All the while, we have been diligently bridging the Mainland and the rest of the world through our extensive connections and undertaking our corporate social responsibilities.
Creating strong growth impetus and expanding connections
Since the beginning of this year, CGCC has organized delegations to Guangdong, the Yangtze River Delta region and Yunnan to deepen businesses cooperation between Mainland and Hong Kong. We also collaborated with Mainland business associations to organize a number of forums and seminars, during which various projects of modern professional services were promoted.
As for overseas delegations, we have visited political and business entities in Vietnam to foster cooperation, and three Middle Eastern countries, namely Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, to strengthen Hong Kong's trade and economic ties with the region and highlight our city's unique edge to the political and business communities in the three countries. Furthermore, we signed memoranda of cooperation with some Mainland and overseas chambers of commerce and put in place sound liaison mechanisms to strengthen interaction and cooperation. We also invited the Kuwait Investment Authority and Dubai Chamber of Commerce to open offices in Hong Kong, paving the way for more Middle Eastern businesses to set up shop in Hong Kong and leverage the city as a key springboard for investing in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (Greater Bay Area) and the Mainland at large.
Back in June, we attended the 16th World Chinese Entrepreneurs Convention in Bangkok, Thailand. I was invited to be a speaker at a forum on the opportunities promised by the “Belt and Road” Initiative (B&R), Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and the Greater Bay Area, and I made use of the occasion to promote Hong Kong’s unique edge in helping Chinese entrepreneurs expand into the Greater Bay Area and other regional markets. CGCC also took over the baton to be the secretariat of the next convention. In our new capacity, we will double up efforts to mobilize Chinese entrepreneurs worldwide to participate in the developments of the Greater Bay Area and the B&R and support the country’s effort in turning the former into a world-class bay area.
Last month, Chief Executive John Lee led a delegation to the ASEAN member states Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia, of which I joined the Kuala Lumpur stop. The delegation not only promoted interaction but also helped consolidate Hong Kong’s unique position as a springboard for ASEAN businesses to enter the Mainland market, especially the Greater Bay Area.
In addition, we organized a seminar with some of our fellow local business associations to share the major achievements of the business sector in creating growth impetus for Hong Kong. During the event, signing ceremonies of various collaborative projects were held, inspiring other companies to expand their businesses and investments in Hong Kong.
Leveraging chamber resources to help improve people’s livelihood
CGCC adheres to its mission of caring for the community and spares no effort in improving people’s livelihood. Our “We Care We Share” campaign, which was established in 2009, has so far donated over HKD91 million in total to support a range of charitable causes, benefiting almost 230,000 people. Besides our own initiative, we actively supported the caring activities rolled out by the HKSAR government over last year to help those in need. At the same time, the Chamber places great emphasis on education and talent training and has provided through the CGCC Education Fund over HKD42 million to date to subsidize education and training programs, which benefited over 6,000 students.
Not long ago, CGCC and several other chambers of commerce in Hong Kong jointly organized a seminar to promote the business sector’s contribution to improving people’s livelihood. On behalf of the co-organizers, I read out our manifesto and appealed to the business sector to put resources behind efforts to improve people's livelihood and uphold their corporate social responsibilities.
Looking ahead, CGCC will continue to consolidate its business network and support different industries in generating growth impetus and enhancing the overall competitiveness of Hong Kong. We will also mobilize the business sector to increase investments and participation in social welfare, with the goal of meeting President Xi’s expectations on all fronts and shaping a better future.
