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The Principal Hong Kong Economic and Trade Representative of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, Mrs Jennie Chok, called on Korean enterprises to establish a base in Hong Kong so that they could better leverage Hong Kong's strengths as a business and financial hub in Asia.
Mrs Chok was addressing some 130 business and financial sector executives during a luncheon seminar in Daejeon - the fifth largest city in Korea and one of the country's major science and technology centres - today (February 19).
She told the audience that at present some 3,900 international companies maintained regional headquarters or regional offices in Hong Kong and among these, around 80 were established by Korean enterprises whose businesses covered various sectors such as trading, electronics and logistics.
On the trade relationship between Hong Kong and Korea, Mrs Chok said Korea was Hong Kong's sixth largest trading partner in the world and reciprocally Hong Kong was Korea's seventh largest trading partner.
She noted that between 2003 and 2007, average annual bilateral trade between the two economies grew by 8.8%.
"Last year it was worth over US$22 billion, around 70% of which consisted of Korean exports to Hong Kong," Mrs Chok said.
Mrs Chok also took the opportunity to outline Hong Kong's competitive edges to the Korean business sector.
She said Hong Kong's special status within China provided Hong Kong based business entities, including companies established by foreign interests, with a unique opportunity to tap into the growing Chinese market, using the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA).
Another initiative was the Pan-Pearl River Delta market which covered a total area of some two million square kilometres with a population of about 470 million. "In this exciting development and undertaking, Hong Kong will act as a knowledge bank of international best practice, in addition to our usual role as a trade, finance and transportation centre," she added.
Turning to innovation and technology, Mrs Chok said Hong Kong aimed to provide an environment conducive to the development of high value-added and high technology industries that could meet the rapidly evolving demands of the market.
"Given all these and our advantageous geographical location at the heart of Asia and the heart of the Pearl River Delta which is one of the most prosperous areas in Mainland China, you may agree that Hong Kong is a city of unlimited potential - potential that Korean businesses are welcome to explore with us," she concluded.
Ends/Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Issued at HKT 15:00
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