Hong Kong needs to reform itself quickly, ex-commerce chief Frederick Ma says

Lower IPO listing costs, new attractions such as golf courses and BMW museum needed to boost economy, he says

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Beijing’s top man on Hong Kong affairs has urged the city to reinvent its tourism industry. Photo: Sam Tsang

Published: 5:24pm, 6 Dec 2024Updated: 5:30pm, 6 Dec 2024

Hong Kong should build new high-end attractions and lower IPO listing costs to boost the economy, a former commerce chief has said, while hailing the city leader’s sacking of two ministers as the right decision.

“What the chief executive did is a step in the right direction,” Frederick Ma Si-hang said on Friday. “A lot of things have to be changed because, as I said earlier, if you don’t move forward, you will fall behind.”

Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu fired tourism minister Kevin Yeung Yun-hung and transport chief Lam Sai-hung on Thursday, replacing them with housing director Rosanna Law Shuk-pui and transport permanent secretary Mable Chan respectively.

Lee said the new leaders, articulate and proactive, was what he needed to achieve the best results and ensure good governance as Hong Kong had to make up the time lost during the Covid-19 pandemic and 2019 anti-government protests.

Ma, who gave a speech at a joint symposium by Hong Kong Metropolitan University and Germany’s Heilbronn University Graduate School, explained why the city urgently needed to reform itself in new directions amid escalating geopolitical tensions.

Frederick Ma gives a speech on Friday. Photo: May Tse

“Most of our competitors envy our position as a trading partner with the US,” he said, adding that Hong Kong used to rely a lot on trade with the United States.