Kerry: opportunities await Hong Kong to exploit 'One Belt, One Road'

Kerry: opportunities await Hong Kong to exploit 'One Belt, One Road'
CHINA's One Belt, One Road initiative holds immense promise of benefits for Hong Kong says George Yeo, chairman and executive director of Hong Kong's Kerry Logistics Network.
Describing the initiative as a campaign that will bring about a "complete reopening-up of Eurasia", Mr Yeo said the driver of the plan lies in the billions who are currently unable to access global markets because of poor logistics links.
One Belt, One Road, he said, is Beijing's push to drive cooperation among countries in Eurasia along the ancient Silk Road trading route to form a cohesive economic area. 
A similar programme for a 21st century Maritime Silk Road aims to boost collaboration in Southeast Asia, North Africa and Oceania.
"One Belt, One Road will be creating a huge flow, at the end of which we are going to find Eurasia crisscrossed by connections," said Mr Yeo. "It is like angiogenesis in the human body. First you grow the vessels, then logistics companies like mine will provide the blood circulation, and development follows."
"I think it will mean a second wave of growth for Southeast Asia due to the opening up of so many transport links and increasing integration with China," Mr Yeo said at the recent ALMC conference in Hong Kong organised by the Trade Development Council (TDC).
Kerry Logistics is continuing to build its regional express network with plans to have a pan-ASEAN network in the next 18-24 months.
Eric Ip, group managing director of Hutchison Port Holdings (HPH), told the same conference the initiative will spur investment in intermodal and port infrastructure projects and motivate companies to explore opportunities in new markets. 
HPH, which has operations in 56 ports in 26 countries, has 19 operations along the Belt and Road routes, including deep sea, shallow and inland ports.
"Certainly there are risks," said Mr Ip. "We invested in Myanmar and had to wait 20 years before anything happened. Excluding China and Europe, the countries along the routes account for just 13 per cent of global imports and 14 per cent of global exports. This is a big opportunity."