This Annual Plan is the second in HKTDC’s current three-year planning cycle. Last year, we set three medium-term objectives to guide our work up to 2020. While the objectives remain generally on track, we note signs of a more sustained growth momentum in both mature and emerging markets in 2017 and growing interest worldwide in the Belt and Road Initiative. We have hence refined Objectives I and II to reflect the new developments.
The three objectives are:
| (i) |
Help Hong Kong companies capture opportunities amid recovering export markets; |
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| (ii) |
Position Hong Kong as the commercial platform for Belt and Road to reinforce our central role as a two-way investment and business hub of Asia; and |
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| (iii) |
Equip start-ups and a new generation of Hong Kong businesses to become future ready.
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A set of measurements has been set against which we will evaluate our performance in achieving these objectives.
Having experienced years of sluggish demand from our traditional export markets and lacklustre performance of commodity-rich emerging markets, our primary task in the new year is to ride on the recovery trend and play to our products’ strengths of quality, design and safety assurance as we enter the era of affordable luxury and high personalisation.
As economies around the world wake up to the huge business opportunities under the Belt and Road Initiative, it is imperative to firmly establish Hong Kong as the commercial hub of Belt and Road. In addition to positioning Hong Kong as an effective infrastructure integrator, we will also highlight our strengths in logistics, risk management and dispute resolution – all much sought-after services by potential investors. At the same time, we will reinforce our ties with local, mainland and international partners to further anchor Hong Kong’s pivotal role as a two-way investment and trading hub.
The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Bay Area proposal provides fresh impetus for a marriage of the diverse strengths of the three places to take the region’s development to the next level. As the most open and international city in the Bay Area, our world-class financial and professional services could facilitate the region’s global ventures, especially in areas such as technology commercialisation, IP trading and cross-border investment.
While the global economic outlook appears more stable than it has been for the past decade, the operating environment is constantly being challenged by technological advancements and an undercurrent of protectionism. Equipping our younger generation of businesses to be future ready hence becomes ever more important. We will work with the Government and our partners locally and overseas to assist Hong Kong companies to stay ahead of the curve.
