“For both Indonesia and Hong Kong, there are tremendous opportunities for us to work together, because we are complementary in many ways,” Chan emphasized.

Chan said that Hong Kong is a hub for world-class professional and financial services, which can serve Indonesian businesses.

“Indonesian businesses can use Hong Kong as a platform to seize the immense opportunities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (Greater Bay Area), Mainland China as a whole, and even North Asia,” he said.

Taking the opportunity to visit Indonesia, Chan also met with the Indonesian business sector attending the Business 20 (B20) Summit. Chan met with the Chairman of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KADIN), Arsjad Rasjid, to introduce Hong Kong's latest situation and its institutional advantages under the "one country, two systems" principle. Both sides also discussed the strengthening of bilateral investment and trade-cooperation matters, and exchanged views on the economic outlook of the Asian region and various other topics of mutual interest.

KADIN, the largest national industry and business organization in Indonesia, and organizer of this year’s B20 Summit, is preparing for a high-level delegation to visit Hong Kong next year to explore opportunities for further cooperation and development.

Chan had also met with a few other major local companies to exchange views about regional economic development, potentials of the Indonesian market, and the corresponding opportunities for Hong Kong companies.

“We shared with them the updated situation in Hong Kong, and invited them to come over to visit Hong Kong to explore opportunities together. Specifically, we invited them to use our stock exchange as a listing platform. By listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, they are attracting not just international capital and investors, but also those from Mainland China. That would provide a lot more liquidity and strong support for the valuation of their shares,” he said.

In his meeting with the CEO of PT Indonesia Infrastructure Finance, Reynaldi Hermansjah, Chan promoted Hong Kong's favorable environment for investment and business, and to explore opportunities for cooperation in green-bond issuance, infrastructure financing and other business areas.

At the G20 Summit opening, Chan said, the different leaders shared their thoughts. “I can sense that although the theme of this G20 summit is ‘Recover Together, Recover Stronger’, there is still a deep political divide. From a Hong Kong standpoint, there would be both challenges and opportunities amid the current situation, including global slowing-down of the economy, high inflation costs and rising interest rates, as well as energy and food supply issues,” he emphasized. 

Chan said that 2023 is bound to be a year of uncertainty and challenges. On the other hand, he said that there are opportunities, as China is growing very fast and reaching out to other countries, promoting friendship and the spirit of working together.

“Asian countries, including ASEAN and Indonesia in particular, are growing very fast, offering a lot of opportunities for investment. Also, I see that Indonesian companies want to go global when they grow, and explore opportunities in countries other than Indonesia. In this regard, Hong Kong offers an opportunity for them to explore the market in Mainland China, in particular the Greater Bay Area,” he emphasized.

The Greater Bay Area consists of Hong Kong, Macao and 9 cities in the Guangdong province, with a total population of 86 million and aggregate GDP of about US$2 trillion. This scale is equivalent to some of the largest economies in the world like Canada.

“That would, on the one hand, present a tremendous consumer market for Indonesian products; on the other hand, Hong Kong, as an international financial center, will be able to offer liquidity and funding to Indonesian companies,” Chan said.

Chan appreciates and congratulates Indonesia for its success in hosting the G20 Summit, saying that Indonesia is a country of promise.

“Having the G20 hosted by Indonesia is great. That brings leaders from all over the globe to this part of the world to see for themselves the prosperity and the opportunities here, in particular Indonesia. Indonesia is a country of tremendous promise, with a lot of natural resources, an open government which is very friendly to business and investments, and a young population,” Chan said.

Chan added that ASEAN and the developing parts of Asia contribute about one-third of global growth. Meanwhile, China contributes another one-third. “So, this part of the world will be accounting for about two-thirds of global growth. That is very important and a forceful driver for economic growth,” he said.

Chan said that Hong Kong has now relaxed the quarantine restrictions step-by-step upon subsidence of the COVID-19 pandemic. Some major international events have also been organized in Hong Kong, most notably the Global Financial Leaders’ Investment Summit in early November. The event was attended by global financial institutions, including their chairmen, CEOs and senior executives, covering asset managers, hedge funds, venture capitalists and private-equity firms. Hong Kong had also successfully hosted the Rugby Sevens.

“We organize such large-scale international events to let the whole world know that Hong Kong is back. Hong Kong is back for business. Hong Kong is open,” Chan emphasized.

“It has been very encouraging for us to continue to open up, to continue to engage with the outside world and to let people know the opportunities in our part of the world,” he added.

To this end, Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee has introduced a series of bold measures to attract talents and businesses in his Policy Address announced last month. Chan said that all the measures are intended to attract top-notch talents and businesses from around the world to Hong Kong.

“We need to attract more talents to come to Hong Kong, because they are the most important asset. That is the reason why we will be rolling out various talent attraction schemes. For example, for those high-income earners -- people earning  US$320,000 or more a year, they can come to Hong Kong without the need of getting a job first -- just come explore the opportunities,” he said.

Another example is for graduates from the top-100 universities with some working experience to come to Hong Kong, regardless of their major. “If the major is philosophy or literature, it is great. If they major in finance or economics, they are also very welcome. They can come in without the need to get a job first -- just explore opportunities to seek employment or set up their business,” Chan said.

“For those top-school graduates with less experience, we also allow them to come. And finally, we have a talent list. It sets out certain sectors in which we are short on talents. We want to attract such talents to come. Previously, professionals on the talent list needed to first secure job offers before coming. Now this is no longer required -- just come. In Hong Kong, we will be able to offer ample opportunities for these talents,” he said.

Apart from attracting talents, Hong Kong also wants to attract businesses of strategic value, particularly those from the innovation and technology sector. Such include companies in life science, health science, artificial intelligence, robotics, advanced materials, advanced manufacturing and beyond.

“These are the companies we want to attract. So, we introduce an open-door policy -- come, we can discuss what kind of support or measures we as the government can provide,” he said.

For those companies that make substantial commitments and investments in Hong Kong, Hong Kong will set up a Co-Investment Fund of around US$4 billion to co-invest into these companies.

“The whole idea is to attract more businesses and talents to come to Hong Kong -- to work with us,” he said.

“I would appeal to Indonesian businesses to come to Hong Kong to see for themselves their opportunities in the city. We are more than happy to do all the facilitation, by setting up meetings and doing business matching with their potential Hong Kong counterparts so that they can work together to seize the opportunities not just in Hong Kong, but also the Greater Bay Area and Mainland China as a whole. We also welcome Indonesian talents to come over and tap the chance to prosper,” Chan concluded.

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