Hong Kong seeks to strengthen business ties with India

Being a global financial services hub, Hong Kong places itself in a unique position to help finance India’s infrastructure requirements. The Dollar Business Bureau

C Y Leung, Chief Executive Officer, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, said that Indian and Hong Kong companies can cooperate in the areas of information technology and innovation.

Hong Kong Special Administrative Region has expressed willingness to extend its support to enhance India’s infrastructure capacity. C Y Leung, Chief Executive Officer, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, who was on a visit to India said that being “a global financial services hub”, Hong Kong places itself in a unique position to help finance India’s infrastructure requirements. He was speaking at a session on India – Hong Kong SAR: Translating Ties into Business Opportunities, organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry in New Delhi on Thursday. Earlier in the day, Leung met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the two leaders agreed to broaden the scope of cooperation. “We welcome, and indeed look forward to, Indian research institutions and businesses to work with Hong Kong, and make use of the platform provided by us to advance and promote science and technology. I look forward to seeing the results of our joint research efforts,” Leung said. The Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) on Thursday evening hosted a high-level business dinner which was attended by more than 200 business leaders from Hong Kong and India. Leung also met Amitabh Kant, Secretary of the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), Ministry of Commerce and Industry at the event. Hong Kong and India enjoy strong bilateral ties. Last year, India was Hong Kong’s fourth-largest export market with total exports to India expanding 8.1% year-on-year to $13.1 billion. “Major export items included telecom equipment and parts ($5.1 billion, 39.3% share) and pearls, precious and semi-precious stones ($4.7 billion, 36.3%). On the other hand, India was Hong Kong's ninth-largest source of imports in 2015, amounting to $10.6 billion. India is Hong Kong’s seventh-largest trading partner globally with bilateral trade of $23.7 billion last year,” HKTDC said in a statement. Leung also invited Indian industry to invest in Hong Kong and said Indian and Hong Kong companies could cooperate in the areas of information technology and technology and innovation. He pointed out that bilateral trade between India and Hong Kong was growing at a healthy pace of 12% in 2014 and was confident that this growth would continue in the coming years as well. Margaret Fong, Executive Director of the HKTDC, also asked Indian companies to take advantage of the Council’s business promotion platform. Highlighting the HKTDC’s presence in India, Fong said, “Every year our trade fairs in Hong Kong attract some 800 Indian exhibitors to market their products and services to global buyers. And close to 14,000 Indian importers, traders and merchandisers come annually to source quality products for their customers.” Addressing participants at the CII event, Naresh Goyal, Chairman, Jet Airways (India) Ltd., said that Hong Kong was the gateway for Indian companies to enter China. He said the recent reform measures undertaken in India can offer many opportunities for Hong Kong companies to invest in India. He was of the view that tourism offered tremendous potential for cooperation between the two companies. According to Naushad Forbes, President (designate), CII, sectors such as media and entertainment, healthcare, education and tourism offered much scope for cooperation between India and Hong Kong. He also announced the setting up of a CII Core Group on Hong Kong which would work on a strategy to forge closer bilateral economic cooperation between the two countries.

February 05, 2016 | 04:00pm IST

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The Dollar Business Bureau - Feb 05, 2016 10:24 IST

Hong Kong seeks to strengthen business ties with India

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