"HK is best place for investment" ( 2003-06-27 10:36) (Xinhua)
"From my experience of having set up 145
offices in 43 countries and regions, Hong Kong is still the best place for
investment in the world," James Thompson, chairman of American Chamber of Commerce in
Hong Kong said Thursday.
Thompson just won the Personality of the Year award conferred by FDI (Foreign
Direct Investment) magazine of the London-based Financial Times in the
Netherlands last week.
Now that Hong Kong has been officially removed from the World Health
Organization's (WHO) SARS-affected area list, Thompson said almost all of the US
businessmen's family members have returned to Hong Kong. He described the recent
good news as extremely encouraging.
Thompson is a classic example of a self-made man whose record management and
logistics business, Crown Worldwide Holdings, just celebrated its 25th
anniversary a few days ago.
Devoted to both his own business and promoting Hong Kong as the best place
for investment for US businesses, he recently disseminated sets of promotional
materials on Hong Kong to the chamber's 2,000-odd members in the hope that when
they travel back to the United States for business and holiday, they will bring
with them a positive message on the city to their friends and colleagues.
About 40 members of the chamber are set to travel back to the United States
in the latter half of this year, he said.
Thompson is so enthusiastic about inviting Americans to come to Hong Kong to
set up their offices that he has even mapped out a strategic promotional plan
for Hong Kong himself - the Hong Kong International Festival, to be staged at
the Tamar site in Central, if it is accepted by the Hong Kong government.
"Currently, we are meeting Hong Kong government officials to discuss the
feasibility of the plan. Once the plan gets accepted, renowned American singers
and sportsmen are expected to come to Hong Kong for a series of grand events,
which will also be broadcast by a national television station in the United
States," he said.
However, Thompson said he believes that at the end of the day, Hong Kong's
success hinges on the effort of every one that lives and works here. He used the
Hong Kong medical workers' spirit of being willing to make sacrifices during the
anti-SARS period as an allegorical example. He said businesses should avoid
retrenchment or minimize retrenchment of staff even in times of difficulty and
increase recruitment in good times.
Thompson said he is confident that once the Hong Kong economy picks up, Hong
Kong's tourism, catering and retail industries shall create more jobs, and
thereby alleviating unemployment here.
A happy-go-luck type of man, Thompson is fully confident about Hong Kong,
saying the Hong Kong people themselves should be more confident about Hong
Kong's future, encouraging those who possess funds to aid in Hong Kong's
recovery by increasing consumption and investment.
Commenting on Hong Kong's business environment, he said Hong Kong's highly
acclaimed solid financial system, the intact rule of law, low taxation, reliable
transport infrastructure and freedom of the press have all remained unchanged
about six years after Hong Kong's return to the motherland.
Thompson, who started his earliest company in Tokyo with 1,000 US dollars,
moved to Hong Kong in 1978, where invested 50,000 US dollars to establish his
current business in Hong Kong. Now the company manages the warehousing of 5
million boxes of document. In the past 25 years, his business has grown in size,
as has the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong. Currently the chamber
boasts a membership of 2,200.
Commenting on the Hong Kong government's plan of legislating on Article 23 of
the Basic Law to protect national security, Thompson said he does not think such
legislation will affect foreign businesses in Hong Kong in any way.
Now with Hong Kong's business community expecting the signing of Closer
Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA), Thompson said the arrangement will be a
positive one for Hong Kong's businesses. For the manufacturing industry, he said
CEPA's promise on zero tariff will make it an incentive for high-tech intensive
industries to manufacture in Hong Kong.
For CEPA's benefits to the services industry, Thompson said he hopes that one
day he will be able to transform his companies' 10 representative offices on the
Chinese mainland into branch offices. By so doing, he said he will substantially
increase his investments in logistics staff and facilities.
Thompson said 20 years of speedy economic growth on the Chinese mainland is
now a tower of strength that continues to provide great support to the world's
economic growth.
