Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (Toronto)

Director of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (Toronto) (HKETO), Ms Emily Mo, joined the virtual Lunar New Year celebration events hosted by the Hong Kong-Canada Business Association (Toronto Section) and Association of Chinese Canadian Entrepreneurs on February 18. 

In her greetings at the events, Ms Mo noted both associations have been striving to connect their members through webinars and events, as well as to support them in their business plans during the pandemic. She is optimistic that businesses will recover in the coming year with worldwide vaccination underway.

Ms Mo also highlighted the distinctive advantages of doing business in Hong Kong. "Under the 'one country, two systems' principle, Hong Kong has a world-class financial system, a vibrant and diverse professional services sector that supports it, free flow of information, talent, capital and goods, long-standing rule of law, as well as a low and simple tax regime," Ms Mo said.

In the past decade, Hong Kong has been among the top 5 global Initial Public Offering (IPO) raising markets, ranking first for 7 out of the past 11 years in terms of IPO funds raised.  Moreover, Hong Kong is the leading destination for China’s foreign direct investment outflow.

Ms Mo pointed out that China is the first country to reopen and recover from the pandemic, with a positive GDP growth recorded for 2020. Trade between China and Canada also recorded roughly a 10% increase last year.  

Being the gateway to Mainland China and part of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Hong Kong is set to play a pivotal role in China’s game-changing economic development strategies.  "Our work in 2021 will focus on creating business opportunities through smart integration with these strategies, which offer new and exciting opportunities for companies from Canada," Ms Mo continued. 

Apart from the mainland of China, Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is Hong Kong’s 2nd biggest trading partner in goods, and 4th largest in services. "Last November, Couche-tard announced their entry into the Asian market via the acquisition of the Circle-K chain in Hong Kong.  This exemplified Canadian companies’ confidence in having Hong Kong as their springboard for expansion into the Asian market," Ms Mo said.

Lastly, Ms Mo encouraged Canadian enterprises to leverage on Hong Kong’s advantages to expand their businesses to the mainland and ASEAN markets. Ms Mo also took the opportunity to wish all participants a healthy and prosperous Year of the Ox.