Blog

In last week's blog, we explored the deepening co-operation between Hong Kong and the Middle East. Events over the past week have brought this growing partnership into sharper focus. Sohar International, Oman's second-largest bank, opened its first office outside the Middle East in Hong Kong, becoming the first Omani bank to establish a presence here. On the same day, the Oman Investment Authority announced plans to participate in the Hogn Kong SAR Government's Innovation and Technology Venture Fund by investing approximately HK$250 million in partnership with a local fund management company. It is the first Middle Eastern sovereign wealth fund to participate in the scheme.

The International Monetary Fund's latest global macroeconomic projections, released a few months ago, forecast growth of 3.8% and 4.5% for emerging market and developing economies this year and next year respectively—well above the rates for both the global economy and advanced economies. Indeed, emerging markets have been growing at a relatively faster pace for a quarter of a century.

The Northern Metropolis is a key new engine for Hong Kong’s future economic growth. We recently announced the tender result for the first “large-scale land disposal” project in the Northern Metropolis — a new milestone in its development. For the 11-hectare pilot area in Hung Shui Kiu, we moved away from the traditional cash tender approach of awarding the land to the highest bidder. Instead, we adopted a “two-envelope approach”, which places greater weight on how much a tender proposal will contribute, over the long term, to Hong Kong’s industrial development and the wider economy.