Hong Kong entrepreneurs exchange ideas in Guangzhou

A sharing session of entrepreneurs was held recently in Guangzhou to discuss the cooperation between Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Macao in the past 40 years.

Over the past 40 years of reform and opening up, the cooperation between Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Macao has become increasingly close. Many entrepreneurs committed to promoting economic, trade and cultural cooperation between the three places have emerged.

Among them, Hong Kong entrepreneur Timothy Tsun-Ting Fok is an important representative. The Fok family has contributed greatly to the tri-city cooperation since the reform and opening up.

"Guangzhou has changed a lot in the past 40 years," said Tsun-Ting Fok, president of Fok Ying Tung Group, when recalling his father's investment history in Guangzhou.

Huo Ying Tung's first investment in the Chinese mainland was in the hotel industry, including the Hot Spring Hotel in Zhongshan and the White Swan Hotel in Guangzhou, which both had breakthrough significance at that time. Later, they hosted many diplomatic receptions.

"The Fok family has a root in Guangzhou and my father has a deep conception of home, that’s why he took part in the construction on behalf of patriots throughout Hong Kong," said Tsun-Ting Fok.

In his opinion, basic reception capacity and transportation are two important parts in the development of a city. Since reform and opening up, thousands of roads and bridges in Guangdong have sprung up, greatly improving transportation. He also thinks highly of Nansha, where he used to do conservation work on a mine, contributing to the foundation of Nansha’s future.

Tsun-Ting Fok kept carrying the Nansha project forward after his father died in 2006. "Geographically speaking, Nansha is not only one of the few excellent seaports on the Chinese coastline but also a place close to Hong Kong and Macao with development potential," said Timothy. He also expected that Nansha's future construction would be more integrated with Guangdong's own characteristics, and be a site of harmony with nature.

Tsun-Ting Fok also encouraged exchanges between young people in the mainland and Hong Kong at the sharing session.

Other famous entrepreneurs from Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Macao also spoke at the meeting sharing investment stories, experience, and their feelings of the development of Guangzhou over the past 40 years.