Media365
The 19th Asian Financial Forum (AFF) kicks off in Hong Kong next week, highlighting the city’s strategic role in facilitating cross-border investment.
The forum would focus on helping mainland Chinese start-ups go global through Hong Kong initial public offerings (IPOs), while providing international firms with a gateway to the mainland, HSBC Hong Kong CEO Maggie Ng said on Monday.
Titled “Co-creating New Horizons amid an Evolving Landscape”, the annual government flagship event will run from January 26 to 27 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai.
Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) president Zou Jiayi, Morgan Stanley Asia CEO Gokul Laroia, Aberdeen Group chairman Douglas Flint, and Goldman Sachs Asia-Pacific (ex-Japan) president Kevin Sneader will be among the financial heavyweights joining the event, which is expected to be attended by 3,600 participants from 60 countries.
Besides financial players, luxury fashion brand Prada Group’s deputy chairman Paolo Zannoni and Hermès International retail culture and international relations director Bertrand Michaud will speak at the first Global Business Summit to discuss industry development, according to the programme unveiled on Monday.
The AFF would help promote the city as a “superconnector” and “super value-adder”, said Ng, who is also AFF’s steering committee chairwoman. “Many mainland enterprises have already begun their global expansion,” she said in a media briefing. “By the end of 2024, Chinese investors had established over 52,000 overseas companies worldwide, and the internationalisation trend will continue.”
