Transport links are key to Hong Kong’s prosperity, says AmCham president
City has a lot to gain from its role connecting investors with the mainland as long as the infrastructure is in place, says outgoing president Richard Vuylsteke
Hong Kong should establish more physical infrastructure connecting it with Pearl River Delta cities to enhance its role as a link between international investors and southern China, according to the outgoing president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong.
Richard Vuylsteke, who will leave the city in January to take up a new role as president of the academic East-West Center in Hawaii, said with the right transport links in place, Hong Kong was poised to benefit from growth in the Pearl River Delta area and investment in One Belt, One Road economies.
Despite short-term headwinds such as the drop in retail and tourist numbers, he remained “very bullish” on Hong Kong’s long-term prospects.
“The key for Hong Kong to continue to attract international investors to come is to build more roads, railways and subways to link up Hong Kong with Macau, Qianhai, Shenzhen and many of the Pearl River Delta cities,” said Vuylsteke in an interview with the South China Morning Post.
It is vital for [international investors] to find it easy and quick to travel around the Pearl River Delta cities
“International investors would like the idea that they could have breakfast with clients in Hong Kong, then go to Shenzhen for a morning meeting and back to meeting other clients in Macau in the afternoon. It is vital for them to find it easy and quick to travel around the Pearl River Delta cities which are the fast growing areas.