Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said that Hong Kong’s annual Belt and Road Summit will celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative in September and will feature a dedicated Middle East forum for the first time, according to the
newspaper.
“Saudi Arabia’s ‘Vision 2030’ is built on innovation and technology. Hong Kong shares that vision,” Lee said. “I welcome our friends from Saudi Arabia and the Middle East to join us from building an innovative future right here in Hong Kong.”
The chief executive said that during their stay in Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong businesses signed six memorandums of understanding and letters of intent with Saudi organizations, and since then, a number of Hong Kong companies have followed up with Saudi businesses, exploring opportunities in sectors such as banking, investments and architecture.
According to
SCMP, Saudi Arabia wants to deepen its collaboration with Hong Kong, using the city as the bridge to mainland China to spur its transformation. Key areas of collaboration with Hong Kong include fintech, technological entrepreneurship and strategies to attract the funding of venture capitalists (VC), said the Saudi Minister of Communications and Information Technology Abdullah Al-Swaha. Health sciences and biotechnology, the environment, cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI) – specifically generative AI – and smart cities are other areas that the kingdom is keen to strike partnerships on, he said.
