By CGTN’s Cheng Lei

Hong Kong’s oldest and biggest chamber of commerce has 4,000-plus corporate members and just celebrated its 155th anniversary. Its chairman Stephen Ng, who has experienced the changing fortunes of Hong Kong's economy, advocates for forgetting about the “petty local politics”, but refocusing on economy and rebuilding Hong Kong’s competitiveness.

CGTN Photo

What’s changed in the past decades?

As the chief of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce, Ng has witnessed the vicissitudes of Hong Kong business.

The first sea change came before the handover from his British predecessor – British capital left and local Chinese capital began to rise in the 1970s. Ng marked this as the first wave of capital shift.

“Then another 15 to 20 years later, when mainland companies started to arrive in Hong Kong, that signaled another step – a balance of three forces: international, local Hong Kong and mainland,” Ng explained.

Stephen Ng, chairman of Wharf Holdings. /VCG Photo

Not only did mainland capital change Hong Kong, but also mainland tourists influenced the city. Ng also chairs Wharf Holdings, whose retail properties – Harbour City and Times Square, have seen the ups and downs of the mainland tourist cycle.

Ng describes 2003 as “the end of the world”, as sentiment was low at that time. But with the launch of the Individual Visit Scheme, which allowed mainland tourists to come to the city without having to join tour groups, things started to change.

“That actually was the beginning of a great bull run for retail in Hong Kong,” Ng said. “From an index of 100 in 2003, by 2013 that index has become 500. And you can compute the Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR), it was tremendous. We are beginning to see the stabilization,” Ng noted.

VCG Photo

Where is business going?

For decades, Hong Kong used to be known for financial services, logistics, retail and property – but many have commented that Hong Kong has fallen behind some of its main competitors. Shenzhen, Shanghai, as well as Singapore have caught up and established their own advantages.

However, in Ng’s opinion, Hong Kong still has its unique characteristics.

“Freedom of movement, of capital, of people, of goods, of services, of ideas and information, that is what makes Hong Kong different from most mainland cities. And that’s what we need to remind ourselves and we need to remind the administration too,” said Ng.

 VCG Photo

Therefore, Ng suggested that Hong Kong's business sector refocus and rebuild competitiveness, because “the logjam is obviously not conductive to business.”

He added that, “What we need to do is to refocus back on the economy, forget about the petty local politics, and go back to rebuilding Hong Kong as a competitive city to do business in.”

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