Interview: Russia Confident in HK's Future

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, June 06, 2002

Interview: Russia Confident in HK's Future

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"It is now the golden time for tourism and also my busiest time. A great number of Hong Kong people are flocking to Russia for sightseeing while more Russians rushing here for business opportunities," said Russian Consul- general in Hong Kong Konstantin Vnukov recently.

Vnukov told Xinhua in an exclusive interview that the fledging open market rising in the past few years in Russia provides capable Hong Kong entrepreneurs with rare opportunities.

There must be a new round of active economic trade and cooperation between Russia and Hong Kong, he noted.

Figures show that in 2001, a total of 22,000 tourists and business people traveled between Hong Kong and Russia.

"Since Hong Kong's returning to its motherland in 1997, there has been a rapid development in trade and economic cooperation between Russia and Hong Kong," the consul-general said.

The number of Russians who come to Hong Kong for international exhibitions, seminars and trade fairs has increased over the past years as the Russian government started to encourage local authorities to expand their relations with Hong Kong in some new areas, he added.

To strengthen the trade and cooperation, the two sides will hold talks at the end of this month in a bid to reduce formalities to ease the traveling between the two places.

In July, two big delegations of Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce and the Hong Kong Chinese Enterprises Association will visit Russia to seek business opportunities.

Vnukov pointed out that Hong Kong entrepreneurs can do a great deal of business in the fields of energy, natural gas, power and high technology. But it is a pity that they know very little about Russia.

The trade volume between Russia and Chinese mainland amounted to 10 billion U.S. dollars last year. However, the trade volume between Russia and Hong Kong totaled only 500 million U.S. dollars.

"There is large development potential in the Russia-Hong Kong cooperation. I hope Hong Kong entrepreneurs can play an active role in some large joint-venture projects between Russia and China, " he said.

The consul-general is quite interested in the "one country, two systems" concept implemented in Hong Kong.

"Russia began to pay attention to the concept as soon as it was initialized by Deng Xiaoping. This is an innovative concept showing the world how China solved complicated historical problem, " he said.

Vnukov said the concept has been an important part of China's reform and opening-up from the very beginning and has been proved successful in practice over the past five years.

The implementation of the concept has not only ensured the social stability and economic prosperity of Hong Kong, but also has been a great boost for China's progress in opening to the outside world.

Vnukov quoted a letter of Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov in congratulating Tung Chee Hwa for his being reelected as chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

"Past years since the handover of Hong Kong to the jurisdiction of the P.R. China have convincingly proven that the Administration headed by You and the people of Hong Kong had successfully implemented the concept "one country, two systems," strengthened the SAR status as one of the leading financial, economic and trade centers of Asia and entire world," said the letter.

The consul-general recalled that Hong Kong was being struck by the financial crisis when he took the Hong Kong post in 1998.

"Hong Kong weathered the storm with the powerful support of the central government and the concept of 'one country, two systems,'" he said.

The concept of "one country, two systems" is of great reference value for a country with multiple ethnic groups and vast territory like Russia, according to the diplomat, who lived in Beijing for 15 years and served three terms at the Russian Embassy there.

Russia can learn from the unprecedented Hong Kong example how to improve the relations between the central and the local on the precondition of guaranteeing integrity of territory and sovereignty, he said.

Vnukov has a very good impression about Hong Kong, describing it as a special place with good living condition, convenient transport, well-developed service and sound management and legal system.

"Hong Kong is very open," he stressed.

"There are plenty of reasons to be confident in Hong Kong's future. First, Hong Kong has great support of the central government. Second, Hong Kong enjoys special geographic location, high-quality working force and rich experience. Thirdly, Hong Kong 's relations with the mainland are developing more closely, which is illustrated by the idea of joining Guangdong province to develop the Pearl River Delta. This is a new way of development for Hong Kong after China's entry into the World Trade Organization," he said.

Xinhua contributes to the report

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