Chen Maobo: Hong Kong actively embraces technological development and digital trends, continuously enhances brand recognition, and expands into new markets.

On February 3rd, Hong Kong Financial Secretary, Paul Chan Mo-po, attended the 2025 Brand Selection Awards Ceremony and Dinner and stated that the global economic and trade landscape is undergoing profound changes, with a new round of technological innovation and industrial transformation accelerating. Hong Kong actively embraces the trend of technological development and digitalization to promote the development of Hong Kong brands and continuously enhance the international status and recognition of Hong Kong brands. He pointed out that technology can not only enhance the function and quality of products but also key to marketing and expanding markets, with strengthening the development of e-commerce being the way forward. In fact, Hong Kong brands have a good reputation worldwide, and Southeast Asia is a market that needs to be further explored. The Hong Kong Trade Development Council's "Hong Kong Good Goods Festival" held in the past two years has been very popular, and the HKTDC will continue to hold this event in the coming years and expand it from mainland China to the ASEAN e-commerce market to support Hong Kong products reaching consumers in these regions. Paul Chan Mo-po also mentioned that Hong Kong should seize the opportunity of China expanding domestic demand and upgrading consumption. With the rapid growth of the middle-income group, the demand in mainland China for high-quality products and services will significantly increase, and a huge consumption potential is gradually being unleashed. As China vigorously boosts consumption and becomes a consumer giant, it will further expand imports, encouraging more high-quality products globally to enter the Chinese market. In this process, Hong Kong must embrace new opportunities. With the further opening of the massive mainland market, it is foreseeable that more companies from home and abroad will be interested in entering the mainland market. Hong Kong's familiarity with the mainland market, convenience of entry, as well as the preferential treatment under CEPA (Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement), provide unique advantages. For Hong Kong brands, collaborating with global high-quality products and brands, continuous innovation, can create new paths for growth. Furthermore, he also stated that consumers are gradually shifting from "functional needs" to "value pursuit." Today's consumers not only seek the function of products but also value experience, emotional connection, and cultural connotation. In the past year or two, cultural and creative IPs, whether in animation or games, have sparked trends by interpreting culture and life. For example, the recent large-scale Ancient Egyptian Civilization exhibition held in the West Kowloon Cultural District not only attracted visitors to the exhibition itself but also the popular cultural and creative IP products related to the exhibition like the famous Pharaoh cat. These products are not only selling well because of their cute and likable design but also because they closely tie the exhibition content and civilization story to the products, establishing an emotional resonance with consumers. Finally, Paul Chan Mo-po expressed his hope that Hong Kong will continue to be brave in trying and innovative in opening up more new products, experiences, and markets, making the "Hong Kong brand" shine brighter.