Exclusive | European chamber chief in Hong Kong heads to Brussels to ‘reset city’s image’ The head of the European Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong (EuroCham) aims to “reset” perceptions about the financial hub during the organisation’s first-ever “door-knock” mission to Brussels, emphasising that the city remains “significantly, fundamentally” distinct from its mainland Chinese counterparts. With Hong Kong set to unveil its first five-year plan on September 16 – the same day the mission begins – chairman Johannes Hack told the South China Morning Post that the city lacked a clear narrative to sell opportunities in the Northern Metropolis and the Greater Bay Area to European firms. Hack also highlighted data security concerns as one of the biggest challenges for foreign firms looking to do business in Hong Kong, leading to “missed opportunities” for collaboration. While planned months in advance, the door-knock comes during a particularly fraught period, as tensions between Brussels and Beijing ratchet up ahead of an October deadline to prevent a trade war over China’s record trade surplus with the bloc. The perception of Hong Kong also remains bruised since the enactment of the national security law in 2020, with the European Union continuing to speak out on the alleged erosion of political freedoms in the city – assertions local officials routinely reject as unfounded. “So the key thing we are trying to achieve is to reset that tagline to once again focus on the [city’s] uniqueness and on the fact that it stands out. “Of course, [Hong Kong is] part of China. There’s no discussion around that. But it can be part of China and still be completely unique and valuable in that uniqueness.” EuroCham acts as an umbrella organisation, comprising 13 European Union (EU) member bodies, and those of Britain, Switzerland and Norway. During the trip, the delegation will meet officials from the European Commission – the EU’s executive arm – in Brussels and members of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France. Hack said he aimed to advocate for continued European engagement with Hong Kong. While he wasn’t expecting officials to agree with everything, he hoped they would listen to the chamber’s perspective and “give it weight”. He touted Hong Kong’s diverse talent pool and its financial and services sectors as key to the city’s success. Maintaining the city’s attractiveness for international talent and its distinctiveness from other mainland cities was beneficial for both China and the rest of the world, he added. Kicking off on September 16, EuroCham’s “door-knock” will coincide with the unveiling of the city’s first-ever five-year plan, where Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu is expected to chart a course for future development. The 30,000-hectare Northern Metropolis megaproject is expected to take centre stage in Lee’s address, as part of deepening integration with national development and the bay area – comprising Hong Kong, Macau and nine other mainland cities. Hack said the chamber was looking to the five-year plan to make both development projects something “people can feel”, adding that businesspeople in Hong Kong struggled to convince head offices back home of the opportunities in the city. “For the Northern Metropolis, we’re still maybe five years ahead of that actual story. But both these things, for them to be attractive in our home markets, they need a story that we can tell.” Offering statistics on square mileage and infrastructure project specifications would not sell the vision, he explained. Instead, the city needed “clear-cut” success stories, such as a foreign drug maker using mainland blood samples to develop and market a product in the metropolis. When it came to the biggest challenge facing foreign firms in Hong Kong, Hack cited concerns surrounding data security. He described the lack of trust among both Western and mainland companies as a “lost opportunity” and a roadblock to development in the Northern Metropolis and cross-border collaboration. “The biggest opportunity will be in having trust in place,” he said. https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-economy/article/3366552/european-chamber-chief-hong-kong-heads-brussels-reset-citys-image?pgtype=live (ICE HONG KONG)

Fonte notizia: South China Morning Post