COSCO EXECUTIVE SAYS ASIAN FINANCIAL WOES ARE RECEDING
The negative effects of the Asian financial crisis are
now diminishing and the Hong Kong economy has rebounded, a senior executive of COSCO (Hong
Kong) Group said.
Dong Jiufeng, president of the Hong Kong-based shipping company, the largest
overseas subsidiary of the China Ocean Shipping Co. group, said that Hong Kong, now run
under the "One Country, Two Systems" regime, has good trade prospects.
"In 1999, under the influence of the Asian financial turmoil, COSCO’s
staff made every effort to overcome the difficulties," he said.
"As China will soon enter into the World Trade Organization, (the)
Chinese economy will directly connect to the world economy," Dong commented. With
shipping as its core business, COSCO has "many chances" to benefit from the
changes, he added.
Dong pledged that the COSCO group would have a "dual priority" of
backing China’s mainland and Hong Kong.
In a separate development, the COSCO (Hong Kong) executive met Huang
Zhendong, minister of the Chinese ministry of communications, in Hong Kong.