A new principal Hong Kong economic and trade representative in Tokyo pledged here Wednesday to promote closer and deeper ties between Hong Kong and Japan in hopes to see more exchanges between the two places in future.
"Hong Kong and Japan have enjoyed a mature and stable relationship for many years," said Shirley Yung, Principal Representative of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR)'s Economic and Trade Office in Tokyo, at a media luncheon in Tokyo on Wednesday.
"Japan is, as always, one of the top destinations for Hong Kong people," said Yung, who assumed office in late March this year.
Some 1.5 million Hong Kong visitors visited Japan in 2015, while Hong Kong received about 1 million Japanese visitors last year.
Bilateral trade remains robust, and Hong Kong continues to be the No.1 export market for Japanese agricultural and food products in 2015, amounting to about 180 billion yen (1.78 billion U.S. dollars).
"Besides strengthening economic and trade ties between Hong Kong and Japan, another important mission of our office is to promote cultural exchanges," said the principal representative, shouldering the mission to promote closer economic and trade ties, understanding and cooperation, as well as cultural and tourism exchange between the two places.
"To this end, we have been organizing various events and activities," she said.
The office supported the "Osaka Asian Film Festival" in March this year to run a "Special Focus on Hong Kong" to showcase Hong Kong's movies to Japanese movie lovers.
In June, the office supported the annual "Yokohama Dragon Boat Races" to organize the "Hong Kong Cup dragon boat race."
In August, the Asian Youth Orchestra, which is a Hong Kong based performing group, will come to Japan to play four concerts.
To promote youth exchange, the office organized the "Hong Kong Cup All Japan University Student Ambassadors English Program" last year. This year, it will continue to organize the program to select four "student ambassadors" to promote better understanding of Hong Kong among university students in Japan.
"Next year marks the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. We are planning a series of events to celebrate this important year," said Yung.
Introducing the latest situation in Hong Kong, the principal representative said "with strong fundamentals, Hong Kong has remained economically stable and financially healthy, despite global economic turbulence and financial market volatility."
In 2016, for the 22nd consecutive year, the Heritage Foundation ranked Hong Kong the world's freest economy.
In May this year, Hong Kong is again ranked the world's most competitive economy, according to the "International Institute for Management Development World Competitiveness Yearbook."
As Asia's prime business hub and global financial and services center, Hong Kong "is well recognized as a good platform for raising capital," she said. Last year, the Hong Kong stock market raised about 34 billion U.S. dollars through IPOs, ranking first globally.
Hong Kong is also the world's largest offshore RMB business hub, with the world's largest pool of RMB liquidity.
Hong Kong's increasing economic integration with the Chinese mainland has also made the city an even more important gateway to China than before.
