Nicholas Ho Lik-chi during an interview with China Daily Hong Kong. (ALICE ZHU / CHINA DAILY)
An upcoming high-profile visit to the Middle East by a Hong Kong delegation, to be led by Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu, aims to showcase the city’s all-round development in the past three years and tap the vast opportunities in the emerging market that’s keen to embrace the new, says Nicholas Ho Lik-chi, a Hong Kong architect and a member of the delegation.
Other senior government officials and prominent local business leaders will also be among the team, which will travel to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates on Feb 4. The visit will kick off a major global publicity campaign to promote the special administrative region that’s gradually opening up to the world following the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak in early 2020.
The trip, which follows President Xi Jinping’s three-day visit to Saudi Arabia in December, marks the first high-level promotion campaign to be launched by the HKSAR, which has resumed quarantine-free travel with the Chinese mainland, as well as overseas countries and regions.
The SAR delegation, which comprises 30 leaders from the business, financial service, innovation and technology and cultural sectors, will spend nine days in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, as well as Abu Dhabi and Dubai in the UAE, said Ho, who chairs Ho & Partners Architects — a leading architectural design practice based in Hong Kong.
Ho is also the SAR’s representative to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Business Advisory Council, and has helped to promote many projects across Southeast Asia, besides being a member of Hong Kong’s Youth Development Commission.
In an exclusive interview with China Daily, Ho said the Hong Kong delegation aims to deepen Middle Eastern countries’ knowledge of the city’s technological advancement, and financial and cultural infrastructure in the past three years, and promote closer cooperation with those countries.
He said although the trip may not bring in a lot of contracts, it’s vital at this stage to get the message out that the HKSAR and the Chinese mainland are actively embracing the world as they return to normalcy.
With landmark projects across 50 cities in 12 countries, Ho’s company has been an international and technologically advanced advisory platform for four decades. Ho & Partners Architects, which specializes in city planning, and smart-city and green-building design, entered the Middle Eastern market years ago.
The company is eyeing the thriving township developments, smart-city infrastructure and planning projects in the Middle East, which is trying to shake off its reliance on the oil industry.
As a professional service provider, Ho is particularly interested in the Saudi Arabia Vision 2030 — an ambitious blueprint for the nation to reduce its dependence on oil, diversify its economy, and develop public service sectors such as health, education, infrastructure, recreation and tourism.
Countries in the Middle East have been very receptive to adopting new technologies, concepts and ideas. Following Xi’s visit to Saudi Arabia, the region has shown its strong commitment and desire to collaborate with Chinese partners, Ho said.
Overall, he hopes the Hong Kong delegation can accurately and effectively demonstrate the SAR’s advantages in reaching out to the Middle Eastern countries and understand their needs to help them add value to various sectors and promote industrial upgrading.
