Director of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (Toronto) (HKETO), Ms Emily Mo, joined the “Hong Kong Forum 2021- Americas Regional Caucus" webinar hosted by the Hong Kong-Canada Business Association (HKCBA), National U.S. Hong Kong Business Association (NUSHKBA) and Hong Kong Latin America Business Association on December 2. HKETO and Hong Kong Trade Development Council (Canada) are supporters of this webinar.
This webinar aims to gather the Hong Kong business associations in Canada, the USA and Latin America and to explore how participants can benefit from the initiatives of the Hong Kong associations' network. The Americas Regional Caucus is one of the highlight programmes of the annual Hong Kong Forum.
Speaking at the webinar, Ms Mo first thanked the Hong Kong business associations in Canada, U.S. and Latin America for their unfailing support in promoting Hong Kong’s business advantages in their respective region. In particular, the various chapters of HKCBA have been actively organising a number of webinars and virtual networking events under different themes about the opportunities offered by Hong Kong, and in enhancing Canadian entrepreneurs to use the Hong Kong platform to take their businesses to the Asia-Pacific Region.
Ms Mo moved on to share with participants some encouraging investment figures. “Canada’s foreign direct investment outflow to Hong Kong tripled in 2020, making Hong Kong Canada’s second destination in this respect”, Ms Mo said.
Ms Mo noted the HKCBA has been promoting the trade ties between Hong Kong and Canada over the years and the Toronto Chapter has taken forward to launch the Women’s International Network (WIN) in June this year. “The WIN initiative has brought the Chapter the Grand Prize of the Hong Kong Forum Best Initiative Award (Americas) Region this year,” Ms Mo added.
WIN is committed to empowering and encouraging women entrepreneurs in the furtherance of international business and exchanges between Canada and Hong Kong, and via Hong Kong to Asia.
Before closing, Ms Mo expressed her wish to see individual HKCBA chapters in Canada and U.S. joining hands to organise more online events, and to reinforce the American-Hong Kong trade ties.
The webinar was co-chaired by Ms Cindy Ho, HKCBA National Chair and Mr Henry Yu, NUSHKBA President, with a panel discussion to let participants interact with leaders of the business associations and know more about their events and initiatives in 2022.
香港經貿處支持美國及加拿大商會參與香港論壇網上研討會
香港駐多倫多經濟貿易辦事處（香港經貿處）處長巫菀菁於十二月二日出席由港加商會、美國香港總商會及香港拉丁美洲商會合辦的「香港論壇2021 – 美洲地區」網上研討會，香港經貿處和香港貿易發展局加拿大辦事處是這次研討會的支持機構。
是次網上研討會旨在匯聚加拿大、美國及拉丁美洲的香港商會，探討與會者如何受惠於香港商會網絡的倡議。美洲地區會議是年度香港論壇的其中一個重要環節。
巫菀菁在研討會上致辭，她首先感謝加拿大、美國及拉丁美洲的香港商會一直不遺餘力支持在個別地區推廣香港的營商優勢。特別是港加商會的不同分會一直積極舉辦多個不同主題的網上研討會及交流活動，以探討香港的機遇，並鼓勵加拿大企業善用香港平台將業務擴展至亞太地區。
巫菀菁同時亦向與會者分享一些令人鼓舞的投資數據。她說：「加拿大於二Ｏ二Ｏ年對香港的對外直接投資流出增加了三倍，使香港成為加拿大在這方面的第二大首選地點。」
巫菀菁表示，港加商會過去多年來致力促進港加兩地的貿易關係，其多倫多分會更於今年六月創立「婦女國際網絡」。巫菀菁補充說：「『婦女國際網絡』這倡議為多倫多分會贏得今年香港論壇最佳倡議獎（美洲）區域大獎。」
「婦女國際網絡」成立的目的是致力支持及鼓勵女性企業家參與加拿大和香港之間的國際商業活動及交流，並透過香港邁進亞洲。
最後，巫菀菁期盼加拿大的港加商會各分會能與美國的香港商會攜手合作，舉辦更多網上活動，推動美加與香港之間的貿易聯繫。
網上研討會由港加商會全國主席Cindy Ho及美國香港總商會會長Henry Yu共同主持，設有專題討論，讓與會者與商會領袖交換意見，進一步了解各商會明年的活動及計劃。
