Exclusive | Saudi Arabia to deepen ties with Hong Kong, using city as the bridge to mainland China’s ‘world class’ digital prowess, minister says
- Areas of collaboration include fintech, tech entrepreneurship and strategies to attract the funding of venture capitalists (VC)
- Health sciences and biotechnology, the environment, cloud computing, artificial intelligence and smart cities are other areas for partnerships
Saudi Arabia plans to deepen its collaboration with Hong Kong, using the city as the bridge to mainland China to spur its transformation under the Vision 2030 economic plan, said the minister in charge of the kingdom’s digital infrastructure.
“[Hong Kong and Saudi Arabia] are going through very promising transformations, where both economies are financial hubs in their own regions,” Al-Swaha said during an interview with the Post. “We have an opportunity to build an innovation bridge, to leapfrog into the future with an innovation-based economy.”
The minister since 2017, Al-Swaha picked Hong Kong as the starting point of his whirlwind tour through China, where the digital transformation and proliferation of information and communications technology (ICT) have impressed him.
Saudi Arabia is “pro-partnership and pro-openness”, willing to do business with “any partner that can comply with our security and regulatory requirements”, said the minister, the former CEO of Cisco Saudi Arabia before joining the public sector. He is expected to visit Huawei in Shenzhen, after Hong Kong.
The “world class” transformation of information and communications technology (ICT) on the mainland and Hong Kong “is a success story” that Saudi Arabia is keen to “replicate and explore partnerships with”, he said. “That is what we’re trying to achieve during this visit.”
“The current term of the Hong Kong government has put a priority on revitalising our relations with Saudi Arabia – and the Middle East in general,” Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said during a gala dinner at the HKSTP.
The city’s Information and Technology (I&T) Development Blueprint, unveiled six months ago, outlines Hong Kong’s commitment to new industrialisation and its ambition as a global I&T centre, Lee said.
Eleven Hong Kong companies including eight located at the Hong Kong Science and Technology Park (HKSTP) signed agreements with eWTP Arabia Capital to explore opportunities to enter the Saudi market and join the association.
Among the 11 were aviation training and education tech solutions company Aerosim (HK), the robotics company FJ Dynamics International, the AI digital solutions provider FreeD Group and the AI drugs research and development company XtalPi.
Biotechnology, where Hong Kong is carving out a niche as the world’s largest funding hub for pharmaceutical start-ups after the Nasdaq, is another area of potential collaboration.
“There are similar challenges in healthcare, where we look to [our] partners to tackle such [diseases] as Type II diabetes, chronic diseases, the prevention and prediction of cancer,” the minister said.
An electrical engineer by training, the minister is also in charge of building Saudi Arabia’s digital workforce and talent infrastructure. China is a “key partner” in “skilling and upskilling” the kingdom’s 340,000-strong technology workforce, helping to double the tech-savvy population in five years, the minister said.