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“Signing of MOUs is like opening a door for various representatives and businesses to open more doors and drive outcomes,” the Hong Kong leader told reporters beforehand. “There will be more business both ways.”
“Against this background, it is imperative for like-minded economies like Singapore and Hong Kong to remain advocates of free trade and contribute to an open and rules-based regional trade convention,” the deputy prime minister said.
“The long-standing partnership between Hong Kong and Singapore has benefited both sides and strengthened our roles in promoting regional and global developments.”
Hong Kong leader seeks business deals on Asean trip, support for trade pact bid
Hong Kong leader seeks business deals on Asean trip, support for trade pact bid
He also noted that Hong Kong had hosted six concerts by Singaporean singer-songwriter JJ Lin in March as he pitched the city as a cultural destination.
“It attracted not just thousands of concertgoers [in] Hong Kong, but also many fans from around the world and the region, helping to give our tourism industry quite a good boost,” he said.
Welcoming John Lee, Lee Hsien Loong said: “We have a very good relationship with Hong Kong. We kept that up even in Covid and now Covid is past, we emerged and things [have gone] back to normal. I think we should step up our relations again.”
Hong Kong’s leader stressed that the purpose of his Southeast Asia trip was to “build friendship, create goodwill and strengthen partnership”, expressing gratitude to his host.
According to a press statement issued by Singapore’s foreign affairs ministry, Lee Hsien Loong expressed confidence in Hong Kong’s continued development and prosperity under the one country, two systems framework.
The two governments also agreed to promote economic cooperation and resume a civil servant exchange programme that was halted by pandemic travel restrictions, the Hong Kong leader told the media.
The visit marked John Lee’s first work trip to Singapore since he took the top job a year ago. He met the Singaporean prime minister last November on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Bangkok.
Hong Kong’s leader started his itinerary in the city state with a breakfast meeting with Singapore’s deputy prime minister and finance chief Lawrence Wong.
He visited the headquarters of the Meinhardt Group in the afternoon, and said the firm’s success in using Hong Kong as a springboard to tap into the mainland Chinese market could inspire other enterprises to follow suit.
‘People are having doubts’: is Hong Kong losing edge to Singapore as legal hub?
‘People are having doubts’: is Hong Kong losing edge to Singapore as legal hub?
Dennis Chiu Tat-shing, chairman of the Hong Kong Singapore Business Association who attended the dinner, said many Singaporean businesses felt “comfortable” expanding their presence in the Greater Bay Area using Hong Kong.
“They are all very confident about Hong Kong, though they are not sure how Hong Kong has changed after a few years of social unrest and pandemic travel restrictions,” said Chiu, who also is the president of the Far East Consortium International conglomerate.
Singapore is Hong Kong’s fourth-biggest trading partner and its largest among members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean). Lee arrived in the city state on Saturday afternoon and met Sun Haiyan, China’s ambassador to Singapore.
John Lee will head to Jakarta on Tuesday to meet senior Indonesian officials and Asean secretary general Kao Kim Hourn. He will then spend three days in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia before returning to Hong Kong on Saturday.
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