| James Kon in Hong Kong |
LOOKING to expand trade relations with Brunei Darussalam and other countries in the region, the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China will open a new Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Jakarta, Indonesia, which is expected to further boost business opportunities as well as investments between the two countries.
The new office in Jakarta that is set to be launched by the year’s end will be in charge of promoting bilateral ties with four countries – Brunei, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines.
The move to strengthen trade relations with Brunei and Asean countries was revealed by Francis Ho, Associate Director-General, Invest Hong Kong, during a briefing session for invited members of the media under the Sponsored Overseas Journalists Programme for the Belt and Road Summit jointly organised by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) and the Government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region’s Information Services Department (ISD).
Earlier this year, the Hong Kong government launched its economic and trade office in Thailand to look after the vital Thai markets, while the Singapore office is tasked to look after the market in Singapore, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.
Francis Ho also acknowledged that there was lack of initiatives to promote investments between Brunei and Hong Kong, but hoped that the momentum would improve with the Jakarta office’s opening.
Francis Ho, Associate Director-General, Invest Hong Kong. – JAMES KON
“With the new office in Jakarta, we hope to have more visits as well as participation in Brunei,” he said. “Last year, our Chief Secretary of Hong Kong led a business delegation to Brunei and has promoted the business potential of Brunei to Hong Kong’s investors. As the next step, we have to check with the office in Singapore for any concrete developments from the visit. We need to do more to further promote investments in both countries.”
The total trade between the two countries was only US$28 million in 2014, but growth has been encouraging. In the last five years, there was an average growth of 16 per cent every year.
In his presentation, he also said, “HK Invest also plays a vital role in encouraging investors to invest in Hong Kong. Our mandate is to assist multi-billion companies to small start-up companies.”
The China’s Belt and Road Initiative looked set to enhance the orderly free-flow of economic factors as well as the efficient allocation of resources by expanding business cooperation between the East and West, from Asia to Europe via Southeast Asia, South Asia, Central Asia, West Asia and the Middle East.
The ‘Belt’ and ‘Road’ refer to the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road respectively. The initiative offers companies unparalleled opportunities to tap into new markets and explore the tremendous potential of the Chinese mainland, Asean member countries, as well as many other economies along the Belt and Road.
Touching on the Belt and Road initiative, he explained, “We are expecting to see increasing Mainland China companies investing overseas, and Hong Kong is the world’s second most popular destinations for
foreign direct investments (FDI), according to the UN Conference on Trade and Development in 2014, when it recorded US$103 billion of FDI. The number of mainland companies investing in Hong Kong has increased by more than 12 times in the last 10 years.”
There are over 3,200 companies from Mainland China in Hong Kong, using the special administration as a hub to propel to overseas markets because of the relative low taxes in Hong Kong, the pool of professionals and the well-established financial institutions, where over 60 per cent of top 100 banks are in Hong Kong providing various channels to raise capital and others.”
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