Hong Kong has signed 96 agreements with Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan worth US$1.65 billion during city leader John Lee Ka-chiu’s visit to Central Asia, which he hailed as a “successful” mission setting the stage for closer government and business ties with the region. Lee on Thursday also said Hong Kong had initiated an agreement with Uzbekistan that paved the way for airlines on both sides to launch a new direct route, days after the city’s flag carrier Cathay Pacific Airways announced it would...
Direct flights between Hong Kong and Kazakhstan could save business travellers up to 10 hours and open the city’s shorelines to tourists from landlocked Central Asia, lawmakers have said after the flag carrier announced plans to launch an Almaty route next year. Lawmaker Jonathan Stuart Lamport, who represents the business sector, on Thursday said the announcement had received widespread support from the industry, as direct flights between Hong Kong and Almaty would significantly strengthen ties...
Two universities in Hong Kong have signed partnership agreements with a leading varsity in Kazakhstan in a move lauded by the city leader as deepening academic collaboration and strengthening people-to-people ties between the two places. The 70-strong delegation led by Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu to explore business opportunities in Central Asia on Wednesday visited Nazarbayev University, where Chinese President Xi Jinping first announced the Belt and Road Initiative more than a decade...
At least one company under Kazakhstan’s sovereign wealth fund will list on the Hong Kong stock exchange this year, the head of the city’s Trade Development Council has said. Council chairman Frederick Ma Si-hang on Tuesday also underscored the country’s huge potential, noting that Kazakhstan was seeking to privatise its state-owned companies and Hong Kong had emerged as the ideal location due to its mature capital market. A high-level delegation organised by the council and led by Chief...
Two Hong Kong media organisations have joined forces with one of Kazakhstan’s largest state-owned conglomerates to strengthen collaboration in journalism and information exchange. The South China Morning Post also signed a partnership with Kazakhstan’s special financial zone to boost ties between Central Asia, Hong Kong and mainland China. The agreements are among 13 memorandums of understanding (MOUs) signed on Tuesday between Hong Kong sectors and their counterparts in Kazakhstan, as Chief...
Hong Kong will relaunch direct flights with Almaty in Kazakhstan in the first quarter of next year, the city’s leader has announced in a breakthrough which businesses have said will be essential for easing travel and strengthening ties with Central Asia. Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu, who is leading a high-powered delegation to the region, also said on Tuesday that the city would start deliberations with Kazakhstani authorities to reach a Comprehensive Avoidance of Double Taxation Agreement...
A lack of direct flights has been a bugbear to Hong Kong and Kazakhstan forging closer ties but with the city’s leader now in Astana and hints of incentives on the table, hopes are rising for a breakthrough. It is understood that a Hong Kong-based airline is now exploring launching such flights up to three times a week, but the details are being ironed out. Asel Suankulova, managing director of Kazakh Invest’s Investment Promotion and Marketing Department, told the South China Morning Post that...
Hong Kong leader John Lee Ka-chiu has held talks with Kazakhstan’s president at the start of a visit to Central Asia, highlighting the city’s role as a “superconnector” bridging businesses with global markets, as his delegation sealed a wide range of partnership deals with the nation. Lee began his five-day trip on Monday by discussing ways to deepen economic cooperation and strengthen bilateral ties with Kazakhstan, meeting President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev as well as Serik Zhumangarin, the...
Kazakhstan aims to deepen its financial services cooperation with Hong Kong, viewing it as an ideal fundraising hub to access renminbi capital through bond issuances, according to the country’s top envoy in the city. In an exclusive interview with the South China Morning Post, Bauyrzhan Dosmanbetov, Kazakhstan’s consul general in Hong Kong, also said the Central Asian country’s community in the city had grown over the past decade to about 1,000, driven by the local government’s Belt and Road...
Hong Kong’s leader will travel to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan next month to explore and seize new business opportunities, making Central Asia his latest area of focus and with the largest delegation accompanying him. After several years of promoting the city in the Middle East and Southeast Asia amid geopolitical uncertainties, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said on Tuesday that he was eyeing Central Asia next. The delegation he will lead to the two key belt and road countries will be the...