Cathay Pacific Airways and its wholly owned subsidiary Dragonair announced that they welcome the commitment made by Hong Kong’s financial secretary, John Tsang, meant to bolster Hong Kong’s position as an international hub and improve its business environment.
“We are delighted to see the strong emphasis placed on strengthening our position as an international city, and support measures that will ensure the continuity of Hong Kong’s economic growth, as well as the maintenance of a highly open market with a free flow of people, goods, capital and information,” Dragonair CEO Patrick Yeung said. “We welcome government measures that will bolster economic and trade ties with neighboring cities, and encourage overseas enterprises to capitalize on Hong Kong’s position as the gateway to Mainland China and the Asia Pacific market.”
Dragonair and Cathay Pacific commended the government’s support for the construction of a third runway at Hong Kong International Airport.
“We are encouraged by the financial secretary’s assurance that the government is assisting Airport Authority Hong Kong to press ahead with a three-runway system. We look forward to the results of the environment impact assessment, as well as the release of further information on the financing of the third runway,” John Slosar, Cathay Pacific chief executive, said. “We also welcome the emphasis given to the promotion of high value-added logistics services to maintain Hong Kong as the world’s leading international cargo hub.”
The carriers also agreed with Tsang that investment in people remains important and that the issue of mismatched manpower needs to be addressed in order to maintain Hong Kong’s competitive edge, as a manpower shortage would hamper the development of industries.