Of course, Hong Kong’s single-window customs clearance and eTradeConnect were early entrants in their fields. But the bar is rising fast, and Hong Kong must actively invest in digitally driven growth. Others certainly are.

Singapore has already demonstrated secure paperless trade transactions with mainland China, the United Kingdom and Thailand. The UK has passed the Electronic Trade Documents Act which allows the use of electronic records in place of paper ones. France is ready to table similar legislation to strengthen its trade and finance sectors.

Other countries, including China, are studying how to build capability for digitalising trade. The Global Trade Modernisation Index (GTMI) developed by the ICC Digital Standards Initiative, Asia Global Institute and Milken Institute cites five pillars: paperless trade capability, regulatory environment, business readiness, human capital, and trade openness. In the alpha version of the GTMI released in March, Hong Kong was the second-highest scoring economy in both rankings using different weightings, behind Singapore.

Notably, Hong Kong’s lowest sub-score was in regulatory environment – understandable as it has yet to legalise the use of electronic records in trade. The Model Law on Electronic Transferable Records, put forward by the UN Commission on International Trade Law, provides a blueprint for legal reform, but the changes must be made locally. Without full legal protection, business will find it difficult to go fully paperless.

The benefits of digital trade are clear: over 70 per cent reduction in clearance times in anecdotal reports in the UK, leading to cost savings, speed to market, and full traceability. With our current trade mix in flux, digitalisation will give traders good reasons to transship through Hong Kong, thus providing business for finance and professional services around trade.

The opportunity is clear and it is even within our grasp. But both private and public sectors need to step up and work together.

Keith Brandt, Managing Partner, Dentons Hong Kong and board member of the International Chamber of Commerce – Hong Kong (ICC); Pamela Mar, managing director of the ICC Digital Standards initiative; Marjorie Yang, chairperson, Esquel Group, and member of the ICC executive board

Incentives can hasten switch to immigration eChannel

Since December 2021, Hong Kong residents could choose to use a contactless automated channel at immigration control checkpoints. But nearly two years after the launch of this service, the take-up remains slow.

To use the service, Hongkongers must download the eChannel app that will generate QR codes for passing through border control without scanning their identity cards. The QR codes speed up the process and have the advantage of being contactless.

Based on data provided by the Immigration Department, however, from February to June this year at the Lok Ma Chau checkpoint, only about 8 per cent of Hong Kong residents used the eChannel.

The Immigration Department could do more to promote the service. Why not designate more gates to accept only QR codes to give residents more incentive to download the app? Better yet, instead of expecting users to download a separate app, the department could work with the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer to develop a module within the iAM Smart app to generate the eChannel QR codes.

Pui Ka Wong, Kaishan Zhuo and Seojoon Kim, Kowloon Tong

New facts on ground may render two-state proposal moot

The premise of the two-state solution, proposed as part of the Oslo Accords in 1993, was that the 1967 war provided an opportunity for a pragmatic compromise between the state of Israel and the Palestinian national movement. This could be achieved in a strategic “land for peace” deal whereby the state of Israel would withdraw from the lands it recently occupied, in return for peace and normalisation.

Now, in 2023, the extent, depth and longevity of the occupation has created new facts on the ground, notably the colonisation of the West Bank with roughly 700,000 settlers, with their entire legal, political, transport, security and economic infrastructure. The changes are so profound that they render the two-state solution no longer possible.

The settlers will never leave what they have built in the West Bank. On the other hand, a Palestinian state in a small territory with a large foreign community with its own laws and economic infrastructure inside it will never be accepted by the Palestinians.

Therefore there are voices calling for thinking beyond the two-state solution, even though the possible result of such a process is hard to predict.

Hans Lutz, Mei Foo