The head of a private equity firm who's part of Chief Executive John Lee's upcoming delegation to Central Asia says he'll be looking to further connect Middle Eastern investors with local businesses.

Cliff Zhang, the CEO and co-founder of Templewater, revealed his partners in the Middle East have been investing in Central Asia for over a decade.

One of his missions is to bridge their capital with local markets and Chinese technology, with "some collaboration" to be announced during the trip in early June, he added.

Zhang described Central Asia as a "gold mine at its early stage of development and opening up", pointing to several factors that make the resource-rich region so promising.

Geographically, he said it is a strategic transit hub for land transport between China, East Asia, the Middle East and Europe.

In terms of demographics, while Kazakhstan boasts the largest economy in the region, Uzbekistan has the biggest population at more than 37 million.

United Nations figures suggest six in 10 Uzbeks are 30 or younger, and Zhang said this signals "a lot of potential when it comes to consumption upgrade and productivity enhancement".

Hong Kong, he said, would play a perfect role as a connector between Central Asia's growing markets and Chinese technology and services, while at the same time leveraging Middle Eastern capital that wishes to invest there.

"Hong Kong and Templewater play the role of a super connector and a super value-adder in bringing everybody together," he said.

Boasting a diversified portfolio including transport and new energy, Templewater has been actively looking to promote electrolysers, energy storage and other areas tied to energy transition.

"That certainly will be one of the focuses for us in Central Asia region, and hopefully we will replicate the success we've had in Oman and the Middle East in the Central Asian market in the next few years," Zhang explained.

Healthcare is another focus -- Templewater owns Tamarind Health, which operates 36 oncology centres across Asia and serves more than 200,000 patients a year.

"Quality healthcare is also something that is in high demand when a country and economy develops and this is also the case for the Middle East and for Central Asia," he said.

All this, he believes, aligns with the narrative of the nation's Belt and Road Initiative.

"We are changing from just having quantity and scale in development to focusing more on the quality of those developments," he said.

"That's where Hong Kong can play a more important role because Hong Kong is known for its high-quality professional services. We are able to help Chinese companies expand into those new markets and having a more quality and refined solution on the ground from day one."



Edited by Raymond Yeung