Hong Kong's ethnic minorities can drive Belt and Road ties, says labour minister

Hong Kong’s ethnic minority communities can leverage their multicultural backgrounds and language skills to play an “important role” in the city’s efforts to build ties with belt and road countries, the labour minister has said.

Other speakers at the Zubin Foundation’s Ethnically Diverse Youth Leadership Summit on Saturday also highlighted the advantages these historically marginalised communities possessed in helping mainland Chinese companies go global.

In his opening remarks, Secretary for Labour and Welfare Chris Sun Yuk-han told an audience of about 300 young people from ethnic minority backgrounds that they had a role to play as the city pursued deeper ties with countries that fall under the umbrella of the Belt and Road Initiative.

“When looking ahead, we are building and forging much closer collaboration with countries from the belt and road,” Sun said.

“Here in Hong Kong … we have a locally grown talent [pool]. They speak the language, they know the culture … while they know so much about Hong Kong.

“So I think you do have a very important role to play in the years to come.”