French companies are ready to expand in Hong Kong, Greater Bay Area as Macron cements China ties, state official says
- Some of the biggest French companies are willing to expand in Hong Kong, Greater Bay Area, says Gerald Wolf, a government adviser
- French population in the city shrank more than 20 per cent to about 11,000 in 2022 from about 14,000 in 2019, according to data from the French consulate
French companies are preparing to expand their footprint in Hong Kong and tap the vast potentials in the Greater Bay Area as the nation’s leader cemented better business and trade ties with China, a senior government official said.
“All of us, including some of the biggest French companies, are willing to expand our business,” Gerald Wolf, an adviser to the French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, said in a meeting in Hong Kong on Wednesday. “Hong Kong now has more green finance and clean industry, which are [expertise] French companies can offer.”
Wolf is attending a three-day conference, organised by the French government, in Wan Chai a week after President Emmanuel Macron took a business delegation to Beijing and met his counterpart Xi Jinping amid growing geopolitical divide between China and the West.
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French businesses suffered and looked elsewhere during the pandemic as Hong Kong took more than a year to catch up with Singapore and other countries in the region in reopening the economy to global investors by adhering to some of the strictest zero-Covid curbs.
The French population in the city shrank more than 20 per cent to about 11,000 in 2022 from about 14,000 in 2019, according to the Consulate General of France in Hong Kong and Macau. The tide is turning after travel barriers were removed, according to Laurent Pelletier of Veolia, a Paris-based water, waste and energy management group.
“Today, we can see a lot of newcomers,” said Pelletier, who is the managing director in Hong Kong for the French group. A wide range of French businesses, from utilities to infrastructure, food and financial services “are bringing new people to Hong Kong”, he added.