On 27 November, Kenneth Fok, Vice Chairman of the All-China Youth Federation and Vice President of the Fok Ying Tung Group, delivered his keynote speech at the Asia Youth Leaders Forum 2021.

Read his full speech below.

Hello everyone,

I'm Kenneth Fok. I'm very glad to attend the Asia Youth Leaders Forum through this video and address the opening ceremony as a Chinese youth leader. We see many familiar names at the forum. They are all outstanding and influential young people from Asian countries who have made remarkable achievements in their respective fields. At the forum, they will share their own views and ideas in the fields of technological innovation, culture and tourism, international finance, healthcare, the Greater Bay Area cooperation, etc. They will explore how to promote exchange and cooperation between the young people from China and other Asian countries and promote closer people-to-people ties among the Belt-and-Road countries. The forum is definitely a great opportunity to develop international communication and build connections among young Asian leaders.

History has told us that we should seek win-win cooperation. After China resumed its lawful seat at the United Nations in 1971, it embarked on a journey to reintegrate into the international system and contributed to the rapid development of the global economy. China began implementing the policy of reform and opening-up in 1979. Since then, the country has been practicing multilateralism, sticking to the fundamental policy of opening up to the outside world, and improving it with the change of time. The report of the 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2002 proposed heightening the degrees of opening up by "bringing in" and "going out". In particular, after the global financial crisis of 2008, in response to the new situation of slow recovery of global finance, China began the construction and talks for free trade zones vigorously and promoted bilateral and multilateral trade and investment around the world. More importantly, it put forward the Belt and Road Initiative, which attracted the active support and participation of more than 100 countries and international organizations in the world.

According to official statistics, China's value of imports and exports was 35.5 billion yuan in 1978, but in 2020, the total value of China's imports and exports reached 32.16 trillion yuan, increasing by nearly 905 times. Specifically, the value of imports rose from 18.74 billion yuan to 14.23 trillion yuan, and that of the exports rose from 16.76 billion yuan to 17.93 trillion yuan. From the actual statistics, we can see that China’s economic miracle has promoted economic globalization and played an active role in improving the living standards of people around the world.

By the end of its 13th Five-Year Plan, China made historic achievements in eradicating absolute poverty. The "economic power shift from the West to the East" is getting more evident every day. We can say that China is where development opportunities can be found in the world. In particular, the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is a major national strategy of China planned, decided, and promoted by President Xi Jinping personally.

The nine mainland cities and the two special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macao have different roles to play and serve as bridges connecting China and the rest of the world. And the goal of developing an international scientific and technological innovation center has been set. In the past ten years, the gradual popularization of electronic products and the internet and the interaction between technologies and other industries have become a global new normal. The Greater Bay Area will be an important platform for the cooperation between China and other countries.

I believe that among all the industries, the culture and sports industry has the greatest potential. In fact, culture and sports is a huge industry. For example, the 2008 Olympics in Beijing attracted worldwide attention, drawing numerous visitors and boosting consumption. It brought direct benefits to the industries of tourism, advertising, hotels, and catering. The Fitness-for-All Program (2021-2025) even predicts that the GDP of China's sports industry will reach 5 trillion yuan. The COVID-19 pandemic has changed everyone's living and consumption habits. The spiritual food of culture and sports has received greater attention. And people are more willing to spend on them. Besides, the pandemic will certainly lead to more extensive interaction between the culture and sports industry and technologies. New business forms have been created, such as the e-sports industry, sports equipment, and online art exhibitions. "Culture and sports plus" will be an economic growth point in China.

In the outline of China's 14th Five-Year Plan, Hong Kong is designated to become a center in eight aspects, including Sino-foreign cultural and art communication. I believe Hong Kong will play an active role, increase the support facilities and measures for the culture and sports industry, become a focus of many countries, hold more relevant international events and fairs, and promote the communication between people from different countries.

In the new era, people of many countries are giving active responses and playing their own roles. We particularly hope to influence the young people so as to promote future cooperation between countries, in addressing such global issues and challenges as regional disputes, terrorism, climate change, cyber security, and biosecurity. In the end, I hope the event will be a great success and plant seeds for the future cooperation in the joint construction of a community of shared future for mankind. Thank you.