HKETO Newsroom

Director of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (Toronto) (HKETO), Ms Emily Mo, visited Ottawa on June 15 to promote Hong Kong as an ideal platform for Canadian companies to explore the ever-expanding healthcare and life science markets in Asia and Indo-Pacific region. 

Ms Mo spoke at the seminar entitled “Turning challenges into opportunities in Healthcare and Life Sciences" organised by the Hong Kong-Canada Business Association (HKCBA) Ottawa Section.  She updated participants on the latest development in Hong Kong, and talked about the strengths of the city as an ideal platform to Mainland China including the opportunities brought by the National 14^th Five-Year Plan and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area development.

She also introduced to participants the significant growth of the healthcare and life sciences sectors which are dominating in the IPO market. “The Hong Kong Stock Exchange allowed the listing of pre-revenue biotech companies in mid-2018, since then 48 pre-revenue biotech companies have listed, and Hong Kong has become the world’s second-largest funding hub for biotech after NASDAQ, and the largest hub in Asia,” Ms Mo said.

“In 2021, a total of 34 biotech and healthcare companies were listed in the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, and this made Hong Kong rank first by number of deals and second by amount of funds raised globally. 2021 was closed with a total of 92 biotech and healthcare listings on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange’s main board, raising a total of 32.6 billion USD,” Ms Mo continued.

“Regarding research and development, under the flagship project ‘InnoHK Research Clusters’ two clusters on healthcare technologies as well as the artificial intelligence (AI)

and robotics technologies were set up in the Hong Kong Science and Technology Park, attracting many top-notch universities and research institutions including the University of Waterloo,” Ms Mo said. 

Hong Kong is playing an increasingly significant role as a platform for doing business in Asia and Indo-Pacific.  Ms Mo encouraged Canadian companies to make use of the Hong Kong platform to explore the vast markets in these regions.

Before closing, Ms Mo introduced to participants that Year 2022 marks an important milestone for Hong Kong as the city is celebrating the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. “The theme of ‘A New Era – Stability • Prosperity • Opportunity’ represents Hong Kong’s achievements over the past 25 years, and underscores our anticipation for and confidence in a brighter future,” Ms Mo said.

At the following panel discussion, Head of Investment Promotion of HKETO Mr Christopher Chen introduced to the audience the advantages of using Hong Kong as a platform for doing business in Asia and Indo-Pacific, as well as the business opportunities in the healthcare and life sciences sectors in Asia and beyond.

Before joining the seminar, Ms Mo paid a courtesy call to Senator of Canada, Mr Victor Oh, at the Parliament Hill. She briefed him on the latest developments in Hong Kong and exchanged views with him on issues with mutual interests.