Business community welcomes 2023 policy address

HKTDC and HKPC have vowed to support measures laid out by the government.

Various members of the business community have welcomed the measures laid out by Chief Executive John Lee in his 2023 policy address.

Amongst them are the  Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC), Hong Kong Productivity Council (HKPC), and Cathay Pacific.

"The Policy Address states the Government will leverage Hong Kong’s advantages in professional services to develop the city into a regional intellectual property (IP) trading centre. The HKTDC fully supports measures to promote IP developments in Hong Kong, such as the latest amendments to the Copyright Ordinance and implementation of the patent box tax incentives," HKTDC said.

To support the initiative, HKTDC will commission a consulting firm to conduct research on IP trading of Hong Kong’s creative industries and enhance major international IP events.

HKPC, for its part, said it fully supports the establishment of the New Industrialisation Development Office.

"The Chief Executive announced in the Policy Address to continuously promote new industrialisation and move ahead with the Northern Metropolis as the new engine for growth, enhancing Hong Kong's overall competitiveness and consolidating Hong Kong's critical role in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) and Belt and Road (B&R) Initiative," the HKPC said.

"Leveraging Hong Kong's unique advantages of 'enjoying strong support of the Motherland and being closely connected to the world's solid foundational research and development (R&D) capabilities, HKPC will utilise national support for Hong Kong to build an international I&T centre and its role as a global financial centre, to attract foreign investment and advanced technologies, while giving full play to the 'Made in Hong Kong' brand advantage to 'go global' and lead enterprises, further improving Hong Kong's I&T ecosystem," HKPC added.

Cathay Pacific, meanwhile, said it is looking forward to the completion of the Three-Runway System in Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) and the ‘Airport City’ projects that will boost both the capacity and the competitiveness of our home hub.

"We welcome the government’s continued focus on developing intermodal connectivity between Hong Kong and the rest of the GBA. The completion of the autonomous transportation system along the Airport City Link, enhancements to the intermodal passenger service in tandem with Zhuhai Airport, as well as the streamlining of passenger security screening at HKIA are all welcome developments that will enhance the overall customer experience for passengers flying via HKIA," the airline added.