Hong Kong seeks closer ties with ASEAN

The Jakarta Post, Debbie Too (The Brunei Times), The Asia News Network, Tue, 10/04/2011

Hong Kong is putting more focus on ties with ASEAN, amid the regional bloc's growth and rise as a major trade partner of the Chinese territory.

"One fact is that in 2010, ASEAN has become Hong Kong's second largest trading partner, surpassing the European Union and the United States, and we have been seeing tremendous growth in this region over the past few years, which has been growing rapidly," said Fong Ngai, the new director of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (HKETO) in Singapore, during a recent visit to Brunei.

"One year ago, hardly anybody knows what ASEAN is, and in 2010, they became the second largest trading partner with Hong Kong, with Singapore making up 40 per cent of total trade," he said.

He said ASEAN trade volume jumped about 15 percent, with growth in some of the ASEAN member countries being as high as 30 per cent.

Hong Kong is also looking at closer ties with Brunei.

"We are here in Brunei now because we want to see more growth between Hong Kong and Brunei so that's what we are here for to see what opportunities we can facilitate to create the awareness of Hong Kong business people," he said.

He said that with the private sector driving this growth, and with the opportunities they have seen in the ASEAN region, the expansion of trade volume naturally followed.

Fong indicated that HKETO is just taking the cue from the private sector.

"The Hong Kong government is a small government and relies on the private sector to take up initiatives. We do not pick 'winners'. We will see and ask the market to pick 'winners', so it is up to the companies in Hong Kong to decide and we facilitate," he said.

"So instead of focusing on just a particular industry, we let the private sector decide because they are the most sensitive to where the opportunities are," he said.

As the trade office's new director, Fong said he would also like to help ASEAN business people who want to do business in Hong Kong and to encourage investments in Hong Kong.

"We want more businesses coming here and we also want more business to go to Hong Kong, and use it as a base for their business to China so it works both ways," he said.

Fong also wants to improve tourism flows as well as cultural exchanges. "We have seen some figures recently and in the last couple of years we have been seeing tremendous growth from this part going to Hong Kong, and it is going to recompensate for the decline in other parts," he said.

He said Bruneians may be interested on the plans to expand the Hong Kong Disneyland and Ocean Park.

"I understand that Brunei is also positioning themselves as one of the tourist destinations of the region, and we also want to see that happening with tourists coming from Hong Kong to Brunei and ASEAN as well," he said.

"The other area is in cultural cooperation which is also an important part of the 'jigsaw puzzle', and to complete the whole picture, not just talking about economy or tourism, but to build cultural links between Hong Kong and ASEAN where we share lots of similarities and also a lot of differences, and the only way to know this is to get together," he said.

Fong said he wants to organize cultural exchanges such as arts and performances from Hong Kong to tour around ASEAN such as the Hong Kong-based Asian Orchestra. He also cited the Hong Kong Film Festival.

"ASEAN is a huge place and prioritizing and doing this one by one will be one of the things I hope to do soon, so that hopefully we can start something soon and capitalize on this opportunity which is something very important for Hong Kong and for China," he said.