Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, Berlin

HKETO Newsletter May 2022

Dear friends,

director jenny I hope you have had a good start to the Year of the Tiger! It is unfortunate that we missed the chance to meet at our annual Chinese New Year receptions which were once again cancelled this year owing to the pandemic. Nevertheless, I hope you have enjoyed the video we prepared to share with you the festive greetings from Hong Kong, together with a musical performance from the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra and some festive footage from the Hong Kong Tourism Board.

With the pandemic situation improving gradually over the past months, we are glad to see that many European countries have eased most of the travelling restrictions and social distancing measures, embarking on the way back to normality. Although Hong Kong was also hard hit by the Omicron variant earlier this year, the outbreak has now subsided and the HKSAR Government is progressively relaxing the relevant restrictions and measures as well.

To this end, I am most delighted to share the good news that, with effect from 1 April 2022, the hotel quarantine period for travelers entering Hong Kong has been shortened to seven days. Furthermore, starting from 1 May 2022, non-Hong Kong residents who are fully vaccinated would also be able to enter Hong Kong. This marks a key milestone towards reopening Hong Kong to the international community, bringing businesses and exchanges in different aspects back to normality.

In fact, Hong Kong’s economy has recovered remarkably well amidst the pandemic, with an overall growth of 6.4% in 2021. For 2022, notwithstanding the disruption caused by the Omicron wave in the past few months, we are still forecasting a growth of 2% to 3.5% in our Gross Domestic Product. In his 2022-23 Budget, the Financial Secretary announced further measures to relieve the hardship of Hong Kong people, render support to the struggling economy and foster a post-epidemic economic revival. The most notable example would be the commitment of about HK$66 billion (EUR 8 billion) to launch a second round of the Consumer Voucher Scheme, which would benefit 6.6 million people in Hong Kong.

Looking ahead, our Office will be staging and supporting numerous events in celebration of the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the HKSAR, including gala dinners / receptions in Berlin, Zurich and Vienna, a film photo exhibition in Berlin, dragon boat races in Eligsau, and last but not least, a street food festival in Berlin. We have announced the details of these exciting events on our website and social media, so remember to join us on LinkedIn and Facebook to ensure that you would not miss out on any latest updates. I look forward to meeting you in person at these upcoming events!

Enjoy reading,

Jenny Szeto
Director, Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, Berlin

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The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the digital transformation in businesses at a pace that was not considered possible before. Hong Kong is no exception and has experienced a significant boost in digital transformation over the past two years. As an innovation hub, Hong Kong has invested massively in its digital transformation to meet the challenges of the future. Hong Kong has doubled down on its commitment to revamp the city into a leading global innovation and entrepreneurship hub. It has developed an impressive information and communication technology (ICT) ecosystem, with over 93% household penetration of broadband and nearly 100 000 people working in the industry.

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