Belt and Road summit in Hong Kong to begin with green investments in focus

Event to feature more than 280 projects in markets involved in Chinese-led initiative

The Maputo-Katembe bridge in Mozambique. China has invested in hundreds of infrastructure projects through its Belt and Road Initiative. AFP

Policymakers, senior government officials, business leaders and finance executives from across Asia, Africa and the Middle East are set to arrive in Hong Kong for the annual Belt and Road summit, a two-day event that begins on Wednesday.

The summit, which has the theme “building a connected, innovative and green Belt and Road”, is to take place at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. It comes amid a push to boost green investment in infrastructure and trade-related projects.

The opening session will feature remarks from John Lee, chief executive of Hong Kong, and Dr Peter Lam, chairman of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council. Nurlan Baibazarov, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Economy of Kazakhstan, will also address delegates on the first day of the event.

The summit will “deepen international business co-operation and consolidate Hong Kong's position as the preferred business platform for the Belt and Road Initiative", Algernon Yau, Hong Kong’s Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, said in a statement. It will also aim to emphasise the region's importance to global finance, business co-operation and innovation, he added.

The event will feature more than 280 investment projects, as well as enabling project owners and investors to hold talks. Project investment sessions will focus on four main areas: energy, natural resources and public utilities; innovation and technology; urban development; and transport and logistics infrastructure.

The annual event, organised by the Hong Kong government and the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, is a platform for businesses and policymakers to identify investment themes and share insights on potential avenues for co-operation. It also allows participants to explore trade and investment opportunities in more than 65 countries along the Belt and Road.

The Chinese-led initiative aims to connect Asia with Africa and Europe, to improve regional integration, increase trade and stimulate economic growth. Its objectives include boosting China’s access to markets in Asia, Russia and Europe by land, and connecting China’s coastal areas to parts of Asia, the South Pacific, the Middle East and eastern Africa through a maritime corridor.

Launched in 2013, the initiative has evolved to become the largest infrastructure endeavour undertaken by a single country, with the value of investments rising to more than $1 trillion, the World Economic Forum has estimated. The Belt and Road now extends from the Eurasian continent to Africa and Latin America, with more than 150 countries and 30 international organisations signing pacts, Chinese President Xi Jinping told a forum on the initiative in Beijing last year.

“Over these 10 years, we have endeavoured to build a global network of connectivity consisting of economic corridors, international transportation routes and information highways, as well as railways, roads, airports, ports, pipelines and power grids,” he said.

From small community-focused initiatives to multibillion-dollar infrastructure schemes, its projects have boosted the “flow of goods, capital, technologies and human resources" among countries involved in the initiative and "injected fresh vitality into the millennia-old Silk Road in the new era”, Mr Xi said at the time.

The plenary session on Wednesday will include panel discussions with senior officials from Hong Kong and mainland China, business leaders and investors to explore how policymakers and companies are responding to the global economic landscape.

Debut green chapter

The Green Chapter will be announced at the summit. It will feature thematic sessions on green construction, innovation and finance, which will strengthen Hong Kong as a global platform for greener investment.

Hong Kong’s green financing market has thrived in the past few years, with total green and sustainable debt issued passing $50 billion in 2023. Green bonds arranged for issuance in Hong Kong were ranked first in the Asian market, accounting for 37 per cent of the total, HKTDC data shows.

The day-two plenary on “tapping the markets of new opportunities” is to be attended by Mohamed Alkoheji, second vice chairman of the Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Hong Kong Exchanges chief executive Bonnie Chan; 4iG chief executive Peter Fekete, group managing director of Hutchison Port Holdings, Eric Ip, and Iqbal Khan, chief executive of Fajr Capital.

Officials from Qatar and Kuwait are also scheduled to speak on the second day, which will explore opportunities in the Middle East and other markets along the Belt and Road.

Middle East ties

China already has deep trade and investment ties with Arab countries. The broader Middle East, North Africa and Turkey region is well positioned to take advantage of the Belt and Road's infrastructure plan.

The region’s geographical position, as well as the economic diversification agenda of regional governments – especially in the Gulf Co-operation Council – have created the potential for increased trade and investment. China, one of the largest foreign direct investors in the Middle East, is becoming a key partner to regional governments as they work to reduce their dependence on fossil fuels.

Several Chinese companies and state enterprises are already involved in the development of multibillion-dollar projects in sectors including road infrastructure, transport, special economic zones, green energy and sustainable developments.

Saudi Arabia and the UAE, the two biggest Arab economies, have further deepened trade and investment ties with China in recent years. In December, Saudi Arabia and China signed 60 agreements worth more than $25 billion at an investment conference in Beijing, focusing on sectors including energy, agriculture, tourism, mining, financial services, logistics, infrastructure and technology.

Saudi Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Bandar Alkhorayef departed for Hong Kong on Saturday to discuss economic co-operation and investment in the kingdom before the summit, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Sunday.

Last month, Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund signed pacts worth up to $50 billion with six major Chinese financial institutions, including the Agricultural Bank of China, the Bank of China, China Construction Bank, China Export and Credit Insurance Corporation, the Export-Import Bank of China, and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China.

The UAE and China also signed agreements to boost co-operation in investments, industry and technology, and tourism during President Sheikh Mohamed's visit to Beijing in May this year. The UAE is China's largest trading partner in the Arab world, with trade and investment spanning sectors such as crude oil, petrochemicals and artificial intelligence. China and UAE’s non-oil bilateral trade has also been on the rise, reaching Dh264.2 billion ($72 billion) in 2022.

The two countries are also co-operating in the Belt and Road, which encompasses about 30 per cent of the world's gross domestic product, state news agency Wam reported. About 88 per cent of the UAE's imports originate from countries actively involved in the initiative, while 94 per cent of the UAE's non-oil exports go towards those countries.

The UAE also has strong economic and trade ties with Hong Kong. The non-oil foreign trade value between the regions reached $16.2 billion in the first 11 months of last year, Patrick Lau, deputy executive director of HKTDC, said in January. In 2021, Hong Kong opened its first economic and trade office in Dubai, which serves as a regional base to boost trade and investments across the Gulf countries. It is also facilitating negotiations for a free-trade agreement between Hong Kong, the UAE and other Gulf nations.