Central Asia tipped to be Hong Kong’s next logistics hub: Airport Authority head

Central Asia can become a strategic logistics hub for Hong Kong as wars in the Middle East and Europe persist, with cargo volume between the city and two countries in the region surging nearly fivefold year on year, the Airport Authority chairman has said.

Fred Lam Tin-fuk, who joined a recent trip with Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu to Central Asia, also said on Sunday that passenger traffic at Hong Kong airport could reach 70 million this year, recovering to nearly pre-Covid levels.

“Central Asia could be the next Middle East, becoming a terminal connecting Asia and Europe,” he told a radio programme, citing the region’s location sitting between the Middle East and Russia, both of whose cargo businesses were disrupted by military conflicts.

“The strategic value [of partnering with Central Asia] is more than exploring an emerging market.”

Lam was speaking after city leader Lee finished his trip to two Central Asian countries – Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan – with the largest delegation of the current administration consisting of more than 30 local business leaders and around 30 mainland Chinese entrepreneurs.

Lam joined the trip to Kazakhstan while the authority’s chief executive Vivian Cheung Kar-fay visited Uzbekistan.