Hong Kong should use ‘safe haven’ status to draw capital from Gulf: agency chief

Hong Kong should leverage its position as a “safe haven for investment” to attract foreign capital amid the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, the head of InvestHK has said, noting that more companies using Dubai as a hub have shifted to the city to diversify risk.Alpha Lau Hai-suen, director general of the Hong Kong government’s investment promotion agency, said on Friday that businesses were cautious about expanding operations, given the rising operational costs and uncertainty stemming from the Israel-war-on-Iran" class="entity-link entity-event" data-entity-id="38678" data-entity-type="event">US-Israel war on Iran and Tehran’s attacks on infrastructure in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.Lau said Hong Kong should seize the opportunity as a safe haven to draw foreign capital based in Dubai, even as the government there continued to offer tax incentives, preferential treatment and financial support to attract international investors.She noted that China and other Asian countries with strong economic growth were some of the top destinations for companies seeking expansion, while sovereign funds had also shown an interest in diverting investment to the city and the East, even before the Israel-war-on-Iran" class="entity-link entity-event" data-entity-id="38678" data-entity-type="event">US-Israel war on Iran began last month.Alpha Lau says Hong Kong can play a key role in helping mainland companies go global. Photo: Enoch Yiu“What we have seen is that not only Middle Eastern money, but companies and countries that have traditionally used Dubai as a hub, have now shifted mostly to Hong Kong – maybe a little bit to Singapore – because they want to diversify their risk,” Lau said in an interview on the sidelines of a seminar co-hosted by InvestHK in Beijing.