Following is a question by the Hon Chan Yung and a written reply by the Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, Mr Algernon Yau, in the Legislative Council today (January 21):

Question:

     It has been reported that the Government is actively taking the lead in promoting exchanges and co-operation with countries in the Middle East region, including preparations for establishing an Economic and Trade Office in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. In terms of financial services, the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited also established an overseas office in Riyadh last year. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
 
(1) given that in recent years, Hong Kong has signed a number of Memorandums of Understanding (MOU) with countries along the Belt and Road in the Middle East region, whether the Government has studied what structural changes the signing of these MOUs have brought to the bilateral trade relations between Hong Kong and these countries; whether it has assessed (i) how such changes affect the long-term co-operation potential between Hong Kong and these countries in industries that enjoy advantages, such as financial services and technology products, and (ii) the specific benefits such changes bring to Hong Kong's economic development; the year-on-year growth rates of bilateral trade between Hong Kong and countries in the Middle East region, as well as their import and export values over the past three years, and the respective proportions of such exports involving Hong Kong's financial services and technology products;
 
(2) whether consideration will be given to consolidating the layout and resources of Hong Kong overseas offices, such as co-locating the base of such organisations as Invest Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Trade Development Council in the same office building or area in countries in the Middle East region, so that Hong Kong enterprises can benefit from the one-stop services coordinated across different departments/institutions when they explore these markets; and
 
(3) how the Government promotes co-operation between Hong Kong and institutions and scientific research institutes in countries in the Middle East region, and of the progress and achievements made throughout the co-operation between Hong Kong and institutions and scientific research institutes in these countries so far; over the past three years, (i) the number of exchange programmes organised by Hong Kong and the institutions in these countries, as well as the number of schools and students involved, and (ii) the number of co-operation agreements signed between Hong Kong and the scientific research institutes in these countries; what plans the Government will put in place this year to promote co-operation between Hong Kong and the higher education institutions and scientific research institutes in countries in the Middle East region, and the targets it expects to achieve?

Reply:

President,

     The Government has been proactively expanding its economic and trade network, including that in the Middle East region, to promote the long-term economic development of Hong Kong. Among others, the Government established the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (ETO) in Dubai in October 2021, and is actively liaising with the Government of Saudi Arabia to pursue the establishment of another ETO in Riyadh with a view to strengthening Hong Kong's economic and trade relations with trading partners in the region. Moreover, Invest Hong Kong has established two new consultant offices in Cairo, Egypt in July 2024 and in Izmir, the third largest city in Türkiye in January 2025, thereby exploring the emerging market of the Middle East.

     In addition, the Government will continue to explore free trade agreements and investment promotion and protection agreements (IPPAs) with other economies including those in the Middle East. We will soon be signing an IPPA with Qatar and are exploring new ones with Saudi Arabia and Egypt respectively.

     In response to the Hon Chan Yung's question, after consulting the Education Bureau, the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau, the Innovation, Technology and Industry Bureau and the Census and Statistics Department, our reply is as follows:

(1) The Middle East region is rapidly developing and full of potential, making it one of the key links of the Belt and Road Initiative (B&RI).

     In recent years, numerous Middle East countries have put forward their visionary development blueprints, with a view to driving economic diversification on top of the energy sector, and are actively advancing development in areas like innovation and technology (I&T), finance, trade, renewable energy and smart city. Hong Kong has competitive edge in many of these areas, and may align with the development strategies of relevant Middle East countries, achieve complementarity of strengths, and create tremendous opportunities for Hong Kong's I&T, financial services and other professional services sectors as well as the start-ups.

     Given that the Middle East region is accelerating its development, many of the key infrastructure projects are progressing at full speed, which calls for the need of more diversified funding sources and innovative financing models. With capitals coverage of both international and the Chinese Mainland, Hong Kong offers diverse and innovative financial instruments, coupled with a pool of quality and experienced professional services, Hong Kong is also well positioned to assist in the acceleration of the Middle East's development while expanding the room for development for ourselves. Furthermore, the Middle East region is actively seeking to diversify risk, aligning with the global economic shift towards the East. Being internationalised and highly connected with the Chinese Mainland market, Hong Kong has market operations and regulatory standards that are seamlessly aligned with the best international practices. This has made us an ideal platform for diversified asset allocation and wealth management.

     In light of the above, the Government has been actively expanding the Middle East market and establishing connections to enable investors and market participants from around the world to better understand and leverage Hong Kong's strengths as an international financial centre, while providing them with a diverse range of financial products and services.

     Over the past few years, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has been actively promoting Hong Kong's financial system and market advantages to the Middle East countries to further strengthen co-operation with the Middle East market. For example, the HKMA has held bilateral meetings with central banks in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, Qatar, etc, and signed Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) covering areas such as financial infrastructure development, sustainable finance, fintech, market connectivity, Islamic finance, etc. Among these, the HKMA signed an MOU with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, anchoring a joint fund with target size of US$1 billion, to support the localisation of companies in Saudi Arabia connected to Hong Kong and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. Besides, the HKMA has been encouraging the banking sector, especially banks on the Chinese Mainland, to establish regional headquarters in Hong Kong, where Hong Kong's strengths can help companies expand into markets such as Southeast Asia and the Middle East, thereby providing more comprehensive cross-boundary financial solutions.

     We also actively explore attracting overseas capital through various channels, including deepening the two-way flow of capital between Hong Kong and the Middle East region. Following the listing of Asia's first exchange-traded fund (ETF) tracking the Saudi Arabia market in Hong Kong in 2023, two ETFs tracking Hong Kong stock indices were listed on the Saudi Exchange in the form of feeder funds in 2024, which helps attract allocation of local capital to Hong Kong stocks. In addition, the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) has successively signed MOUs with the Saudi Tadawul Group Holding Company and the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, and incorporated the Saudi Exchange, the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange and the Dubai Financial Market on its list of recognised exchanges to facilitate companies listed on these markets to secondary list in Hong Kong. The HKEX also opened an office in Riyadh in 2025 to further promote ties with the Middle East region.

     As the countries in Middle East is full of potential, Hong Kong is committed to giving full play of our role as the functional platform for the B&RI, and stepping up efforts to deepen co-operation with the Middle East region. In recent years, official exchanges, economic and trade activities between the two sides have been increasing, and various institutions in Hong Kong have signed a number of MOUs and agreements with relevant entities in the Belt and Road countries in the Middle East region. Notably, the Chief Executive (CE) led delegations to visit Saudi Arabia and the UAE in February 2023, and Qatar and Kuwait in May 2025 respectively. These visits resulted in a total of 72 MOUs, agreements and statements, creating co-operation and business opportunities for Hong Kong and the Middle East in areas including trade, finance, I&T, sustainable development, transport and logistics, agriculture and education, etc. The above MOUs and agreements are conducive in driving all-round, multi-field collaboration and bring mutual benefits to Hong Kong and the Middle East region, thereby laying a solid foundation for long-term co-operation, thus consolidating the bilateral commercial and economic relations, injecting new energy to Hong Kong's economy. The relevant examples of MOUs and agreements include:

(a) Hong Kong has signed Comprehensive Avoidance of Double Taxation Agreements with Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar, enabling investors to better assess their potential tax liabilities from cross‑border economic activities and enjoy avoidance of double taxation, thereby creating a more favourable business environment and promoting bilateral trade and investment;

(b) IPPAs were signed with Kuwait, the UAE and Bahrain to further strengthen mutual investment protection, enhance confidence of investors and expand bilateral investment flows;

(c) Mutual Recognition Arrangements on Authorized Economic Operator Programmes were signed with Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar to reinforce international cargo security while facilitating legitimate cross-boundary cargo movements of the two places, and strengthen the competitiveness of enterprises from both sides in the international market; and

(d) The MOU in relation to infrastructure and construction were signed with Saudi Arabia to enhance information exchange in the relevant fields and support Hong Kong's professional services to access the market.

     For bilateral trade, according to the statistics from the Census and Statistics Department, the value of bilateral trade in goods (including imports and total exports figures) between Hong Kong and the Middle East (Note 2) during the period of 2022 to 2024 (Note 1) are listed below:
 

	2022*	Per cent change over 2021	2023*	Per cent change over 2022	2024*	Per cent change over 2023
Total exports	125,391 (16,010)	+23.5	136,335 (17,414)	+8.7	129,068 (16,541)	-5.3
Imports	56,236 (7,180)	+7.7	71,819 (9,173)	+27.7	59,028 (7,565)	-17.8
Total trade	181,627 (23,190)	+18.1	208,153 (26,587)	+14.6	188,096 (24,106)	-9.6

*Value in HK$ million (US$ million)

     During 2021 to 2023 (Note 3), Hong Kong's exports of financial services to the Middle East accounted for less than 0.5 per cent of Hong Kong's total exports of financial services. On the other hand, there is no collected data by the Census and Statistics Department on the share of Hong Kong's exports of technological products to the Middle East.
 
(2) As a measure announced in the 2025 Policy Address (PA), the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau has set up the Economic and Trade Express which enables overseas ETOs, Invest Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Trade Development Council to enhance collaboration within the region under their respective coverage through a one-stop platform, capitalising on their complementary advantages to promote Hong Kong's trade and investment abroad under the trio-coordinated approach. The Economic and Trade Express focuses on supporting small and medium enterprises and start-ups by proactively organising overseas business missions for relevant enterprises with one stop supporting services (including arrangement of business matching and other activities) to assist Hong Kong enterprises to explore business opportunities in overseas markets including the Middle East. Through this process, Invest Hong Kong will identify overseas enterprises to connect with Hong Kong's business sectors, facilitating more enterprises to invest and establish operations in Hong Kong, thereby promoting two-way flow of enterprises and investments.

     In addition, the Economic and Trade Express will conduct more trade and investment promotional activities and work by pooling the resources of the trio to enhance the scale and impact of such activities.

(3) In the 2023 PA, the CE announced the development of Hong Kong into an international education hub and a cradle for future talents, and in the 2024 PA, the CE emphasised that the Government strives to establish the "Study in Hong Kong" brand. In the 2025 PA, the CE further announced the establishment of a dedicated Task Force on Study in Hong Kong under the chairmanship of the Secretary for Education in order to further promote Hong Kong's post-secondary education globally and to attract outstanding students and scholars to come to Hong Kong. The Task Force brings together the University Grants Committee (UGC), the Innovation, Technology and Industry Bureau, the Hong Kong Talent Engage, post-secondary institutions, overseas ETOs, the Mainland Offices, etc for greater promotion of higher education in Hong Kong.

     To support universities' efforts in stepping up the promotion of the "Study in Hong Kong" brand and to facilitate the development of Hong Kong into an international post-secondary education hub, the UGC has provided around $40 million to the Heads of Universities Committee's Standing Committee on Internationalisation, which involves the eight UGC-funded universities, in the 2025 to 2028 triennium for participating in and organising various activities outside Hong Kong, and for visiting different places (in particular the Middle East region) to recruit overseas students. Universities have actively expanded their recruitment activities on the Chinese Mainland and overseas, participating in education fairs in specific regions, leveraging existing overseas networks to connect with local chambers of commerce and enterprises, and organising seminars for parents and students who are interested in studying in Hong Kong, etc. Through these efforts, the Education Bureau has stepped up the promotion of various policy measures, including the Belt and Road Scholarship, to attract more students to study in Hong Kong. Starting from the 2024/25 academic year, the annual quota for the Belt and Road Scholarship has been increased to 150 places. In the 2024/25 academic year, the UGC-funded universities organised nearly 200 overseas recruitment activities, many of which targeted the Belt and Road countries, such as the UAE, Jordan and Qatar.

     In attracting non-local students (including those from the Middle East region), starting from the 2024/25 academic year, the admission quota for non-local students in publicly-funded post-secondary institutions (applicable to taught programmes) has doubled from 20 per cent to 40 per cent of the local student places. The funded universities have actively made good use of the expanded quota to recruit more non-local students to pursue education in Hong Kong. In the 2024/25 academic year, these students were from around 100 countries and regions and among them, about 100 students were from the Middle East region. Starting from the 2026/27 academic year, the enrolment ceiling for self-financing non-local students of each funded post-secondary institution will be raised from the level currently equivalent to 40 per cent of the local student places to 50 per cent; and the over-enrolment ceiling of self-financing places of funded research postgraduate programmes will be increased from 100 per cent to 120 per cent.

     In signing exchange agreements with post-secondary institutions in the Middle East region, the UGC has all along been encouraging universities to provide more overseas exchange opportunities for students to gain a better understanding of national development and global trends. As of end November 2024, the UGC-funded universities signed a total of more than 2 600 student exchange agreements with institutions around the world, including 47 agreements with those in the Middle East region.

     With regard to research collaboration, the UGC and the Research Grants Council have been actively promoting stronger international research collaboration between local higher education institutions and overseas organisations, deepening international exchanges and conducting more impactful and cutting-edge research. Such efforts will help strengthen our research capacity. As at end November 2024, more than 50 ongoing research collaboration projects are being carried out by UGC-funded universities with institutions/organisations in the Middle East region, including Israel, the UAE, Türkiye and Saudi Arabia, etc.

     In addition, the Hong Kong Innovation and Technology Development Blueprint promulgated in end-2022 set out four broad development directions, including "to proactively integrate into the overall development of the country and consolidate our role as a bridge connecting the Chinese Mainland and the world". Hong Kong's three major I&T parks (i.e. the Hong Kong Science Park, Cyberport and the Hong Kong-Shenzhen I&T Park), have all along been actively establishing partnerships around the world. The relevant park companies signed two, four and two collaboration agreements/MOUs with I&T institutions (e.g. research institutes, venture capital funds and technology incubators) in the Middle East region in 2023, 2024 and 2025 respectively to foster exchange and collaboration, facilitating I&T enterprises from the two places to establish presence in each other's markets.

     Looking ahead, the three I&T parks will continue to expand their I&T collaboration network in emerging markets (including the Middle East region), and lead I&T enterprises to participate in forums and summits therein. This will showcase Hong Kong's I&T strengths, and further leverage Hong Kong's role and advantages as a bridge connecting the Chinese Mainland and the world.

Note 1: The latest available full-year trade in goods statistics are for 2024.
Note 2: The Middle East refers to the following 12 countries: Bahrain, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the UAE and Yemen.
Note 3: The latest available full-year trade in services statistics are for 2023.

Ends/Wednesday, January 21, 2026
Issued at HKT 18:50

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