Service sector matters

With trade and commerce as the first virtue, some other sectors, particularly services, will also be very important as Hong Kong moves up the value chain.

"Hong Kong's role as a professional services hub provides a full range of support and services for business activities on a regional and global basis. For those countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative, Hong Kong can also offer services concerning engineering construction, infrastructure building, contract signing, risk assessment, insurance provision and even arbitration services," Yau says.

According to the World Trade Organization, Hong Kong was the world's sixth-largest exporter of merchandise trade last year - up from eighth position in 2019. The service sector is very important to Hong Kong's economy, contributing 93 percent of the city's GDP in 2019 and accounting for 89 percent of total employment last year.

The nation's 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25), approved by the National People's Congress in March, has defined Hong Kong's new position in eight areas, including serving as an international financial center (covering offshore renminbi business, international asset management and risk management), an international business center, and a global center for shipping, as well as legal and dispute resolution services for the Asia-Pacific region.

For the first time, the national development blueprint pledged support for turning Hong Kong into a world aviation hub, an international center for innovation and technology, a regional intellectual property trade center, and an emerging pivot for cultural and artistic exchanges between China and other countries and regions.

"Hong Kong has been a premium hub providing a symbiotic relationship among these eight centers. The market is not just confined to the nation, but also to the region and the world," Yau says. "It points to a very bright future for our nation in scaling new heights."

"The Chinese mainland has offered the best market for all, and Hong Kong will naturally be the first to take full advantage of it," Yau says. He believes that with further interaction with the mainland, Hong Kong is again at the forefront, not only in helping to bring Chinese goods to beyond the wider world, but also acting as a two-way street, where goods and services can meet in the city.

The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is the central government's blueprint to promote this 11-city cluster area as the nation's economic growth engine. Hong Kong has a role in promoting the Greater Bay Area's functions in international finance, transport, trade, aviation and professional services to develop the region. But Hong Kong as an international finance center isn't just a single growth engine for the region.