Lee Ka-chao announced he will visit Central Asia, the Hong Kong government plans to further develop new emerging markets.

The Chief Executive of Hong Kong, John Lee Ka-chiu, met with the media before attending the Executive Council meeting today (May 19) and stated that Hong Kong's cooperation with Central Asia has achieved certain results. For example, in the financial sector, a Kazakhstan enterprise listed simultaneously in Hong Kong and Astana last year; the Development Bank of Kazakhstan also issued dim sum bonds in Hong Kong for the first time. I will meet with senior officials of the local government to further consolidate cooperation, expand business for enterprises, connect projects, and create a more favorable environment. At the same time, strengthen people-to-people connections and promote more business and cultural exchanges. John Lee Ka-chiu pointed out that Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are two major countries in Central Asia and serve as gateways for foreign investment to enter the Central Asian market, while Hong Kong serves as a gateway for foreign investment to enter East Asia and Southeast Asia. Strengthening cooperation between these two gateways and establishing a gateway-to-gateway cooperation model can create new channels between Central Asia, East Asia, and Southeast Asia, benefitting Hong Kong's economic and service industry development and creating more job opportunities and value-added opportunities. John Lee Ka-chiu stated the three main purposes of his visit to Central Asia. Firstly, to further explore emerging markets and lay the foundation for promoting long-term economic and trade exchanges. Central Asia is developing rapidly with a huge market. This is my first visit to Central Asia. I believe that the members of the delegation will have a better understanding of the latest developments in various fields such as finance, trade, infrastructure, and innovation in Central Asia through field visits, and can discover new market opportunities. At the same time, we will actively promote Hong Kong's unique advantages under "one country, two systems" to the local business community and attract Central Asian enterprises to use the Hong Kong platform to expand their business. The second is to strengthen government-to-government relations and interactions, and promote closer cooperation between the two sides. Lastly, to establish a gateway-to-gateway cooperation model. Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are two major countries in Central Asia and serve as gateways for foreign investment to enter the Central Asian market, while Hong Kong serves as a gateway for foreign investment to enter East Asia and Southeast Asia. Strengthening cooperation between these two gateways and establishing a gateway-to-gateway cooperation model can create new channels between Central Asia, East Asia, and Southeast Asia, benefitting Hong Kong's economic and service industry development and creating more job opportunities and value-added opportunities. John Lee Ka-chiu stated that the world trade relationships are reshaping, and the Hong Kong government actively seeks to explore the Central Asian market in order to establish new trade channels for Hong Kong, discover emerging markets with abundant opportunities, consolidate traditional markets, explore new tracks, leverage Hong Kong's role as an outward platform, make Central Asian countries understand and value the Hong Kong market and advantages more, bring more economic benefits to Hong Kong, and allow citizens to share more economic dividends.