September 18, 2022
The DAB visited five ASEAN countries, including Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore and Malaysia, in three delegations from September 4 to September 10. The three delegations attended over 50 meetings or visits, reached over 500 local businessmen and professionals, and visited the Chinese ambassies. The visits could be summed up as "Reinforce ties, Shape the narrative, Promote Exchanges, and Develop Together", and the results achieved exceeded our expectations.
Reinforce ties
We successfully reached out to local representatives from chambers of commerce and businessmen and received news before the end of the visit that many organizations would make return visits to Hong Kong. We believed that our delegations had made a successful first step in promoting exchanges between Hong Kong and ASEAN in the future
Shape the narrative
The delegations used figures to explain the current environment and evaluate the achievements of Hong Kong after the 25th anniversary of the handover to local representatives from chambers of commerce and businessmen. We believed our explanation had successfully projected the real picture of Hong Kong to the local people and increased their confidence in the future of Hong Kong.
Promote Exchanges
The delegations introduced Hong Kong’s current situation in details, encouraged local people to come visit Hong Kong and received positive responses, hence promoting economic and personnel exchanges between Hong Kong and the ASEAN region.
Develop Together
The delegations introduced Hong Kong's advantages for doing business to the local businessmen and brought to their attention the development of Hong Kong's traditional Chinese medicine, innovation and technology industries. We believed that the visits helped local businessmen refocus their attention to Hong Kong’s economic developments.
Future Work
We planned to submit proposals on the promotion of a higher level of strategic development of economic and trade ties between Hong Kong and ASEAN during our meeting on the Policy Address with the Chief Executive next week.
Conclusion
The ASEAN region was rapidly developing, which proved that the country’s "Belt and Road" strategy was on the right track. Hong Kong should make contributions to the national development strategy.