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Hong Kong’s Paul Chan hints at ‘goods news’ after Shanghai trip to woo top tech enterprises

  • Finance chief says start-ups and technology firms in Shanghai expressed enthusiasm about using Hong Kong as gateway to expand into global market
  • ‘I believe that there will be some good news in the short term about attracting strategic enterprises, Chan says, but stops short of revealing details

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Finance chief Paul Chan (centre) says he visited Chinese technology giant Huawei’s Shanghai Research Institute and an unnamed firm that specialises in cloud computing and creating chips for artificial intelligence software. Photo: Handout
Ng Kang-chung

Hong Kong’s finance chief has hinted at “some good news” after a recent visit over the border to entice leading technology companies, saying some businesses had expressed a strong interest in setting up shop in the city.

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Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po on Sunday said he had met some representatives of start-ups and technology enterprises on a trip to Shanghai and that the companies were considering expanding into global markets through Hong Kong.

“In terms of attracting enterprises and investment, we have received a lot of positive responses,” he wrote in his weekly blog.

Chan also met senior city officials and spoke to the top management of the Shanghai-based New Development Bank on the three day-day trip, which ended on Sunday.

The bank was set up in 2015 by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, known as the BRICS countries, to finance infrastructure and development projects.

The trip was also Chan’s first visit to the city since the start of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.

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The visit included stop-offs at company offices and research centres, as well as sit-down exchanges. Chan said they had all helped him to gain a greater understanding of emerging start-ups and tech firms across the border.

“They recognised the advantages of Hong Kong’s ‘one country two systems’ and internationalisation, and expressed a strong interest in expanding their global markets with Hong Kong as their base,” he added, referring to the city’s governing principle.

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