Nicholas Ho is Hong Kong’s commissioner for belt and road.
Recently, I joined Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Algernon Yau Ying-wah in Malaysia for the official opening of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Kuala Lumpur. The occasion marked an elevation in Hong Kong’s economic and trade ties with Malaysia and the broader Southeast Asian region. During the visit, Hong Kong’s Belt and Road Office hosted a forum that brought government officials, business leaders and professionals together for substantive discussions – underscoring Hong Kong’s practical role as a functional platform for Belt and Road Initiative cooperation.
The Belt and Road Office continues to coordinate efforts that strengthen “hard connectivity” in infrastructure, “soft connectivity” in rules and standards, and “people-to-people connectivity” with belt and road partner countries. Through all-round connectivity, Hong Kong is deepening our participation in high-quality belt and road cooperation across multiple fields.
On hard connectivity, the Belt and Road Office actively engages the project authorities in partner countries and regions to build a structured cooperation platform. This platform identifies opportunities for Hong Kong companies and professional services to participate in both major and “small but beautiful” projects.
We also organise outbound missions that bring diverse sectors together to explore belt and road opportunities. In June this year, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu led a business delegation to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, advancing Hong Kong’s comprehensive engagement with Central Asian economies. The visit yielded strong results, with 96 cooperation agreements and memorandums of understanding signed, covering projects valued at more than US$1.65 billion.
The Belt and Road Office concluded memorandums with key institutions in both countries, laying solid groundwork for collaboration. We will encourage the relevant project authorities to conduct roadshows or release information in Hong Kong, enabling local enterprises to connect more precisely with these opportunities.
At the same time, we have brought major events from belt and road countries to Hong Kong. For instance, LEAP East, a premier global tech event, left the Middle East for the first time and chose Hong Kong as its host – positioning the city as a new international stage for technology exchange.
