Carrie Lam visit will bolster HK investment

Carrie Lam reacts during a press conference in Hong Kong on Tuesday. The Hong Kong chief executive will be in Bangkok on Thursday to foster economic ties with Thailand. (AP photo)

Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam is scheduled to arrive in Thailand on Thursday to reinforce cooperation with Thailand on economic matters as well as innovation, creativity, finance, human resources development and startups.

Mrs Lam plans to attend an investment seminar organised by the Board of Investment (BoI) in Bangkok where Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak will give a keynote speech and urge Hong Kong to invest more in Thailand.

A business-matching event on Thursday is expected to attract 60 Thai companies and 50 from Hong Kong.

On Thursday, Mrs Lam and Mr Somkid are scheduled to join a meeting of the Hong Kong-Thailand High-Level Joint Committee at the Government House and sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the framework for in-depth economic cooperation.

Five MoUs are expected to be signed by related agencies on creativity, securities cross-listing between Thailand and Hong Kong, innovation, human resources development and startups.

Mrs Lam plans to call on Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha on Thursday evening.

Kobsak Pootrakool, deputy secretary-general to the premier for political affairs, said the in-depth economic cooperation will include a Hong Kong-Thailand free trade agreement.

“The deepened economic cooperation will greatly benefit Thailand, which can be a gateway for Hong Kong to Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam, while Hong Kong can be a gateway for Thailand to China’s Greater Bay Area [GBA],” he said.

The GBA aims to promote cooperation among nine cities in Guangdong — Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Foshan, Zhongshan, Dongguan, Huizhou, Jiangmen and Zhaoqing — and the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau, with the aim of developing a world-class city cluster via reforms, innovation and liberalisation.

The GBA is home to more than 70 million people and has a combined GDP of US$1.5 trillion (47 trillion baht). The area has averaged economic growth of 10.7% a year for several decades.