UAE, Hong Kong to enhance 'Belt and Road' framework, says HKTDC

Perry Fung, regional director for Middle East and Africa at HKTDC

The UAE and Hong Kong are jointly working to enhance framework on the 'Belt and Road' initiative to further boost the bilateral trade relations, Perry Fung, regional director for Middle East and Africa at HKTDC, said on Tuesday.
Talking to Khaleej Times on the sidelines of a Press conference to announce the fourth Lifestyle Expo in Dubai, he said the key focus of the 'Belt and Road' initiative is to improve connectivity by reducing barriers to trade and building physical links.
Elaborating, he said the inter-connectivity of energy, power and resources, and a secure, efficient network of land, sea and air passages may create opportunities for cross-border investment, large-scale infrastructure development, trade and social integration.
The UAE is Hong Kong's largest export market in the Middle East, and trade between the two presents an opportunity to build new business-to-business links along the 'Belt and Road'. The total trade between UAE and Hong Kong recorded $4.5 billion in first-eight months of the current year and has registered a year on year growth of 13.9 per cent. Last year, Hong Kong's exports to the UAE amounted to $6 billion and it included pearls, precious and semi-precious stones (50.6 per cent of total, up 85.4 per cent year-on-year) and telecom equipment and parts (22 per cent of total), and jewellery (4.7 per cent of total).
Lifestyle expo
The fourth Lifestyle Expo will take place from November 6 to 7, showcasing a wide range of consumer electronics and ICT products, gifts and premium, household products and electrical appliances, fashion and fashion accessories, and watches and clocks from more than 100 Hong Kong and mainland exhibitors.
"The HKTDC Lifestyle Expo in Dubai will highlight the enormous business opportunities emerging from China's Belt and Road Initiative, which aims to connect markets spanning Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Europe. With strategic locations and sophisticated economies, both Hong Kong and Dubai are well positioned to benefit from the initiative," said Fung.
The event - jointly organised by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) and the Department of Commerce of Guangdong Province - will be inaugurated by financial secretary of the Hong Kong special administrative region John Tsang and Abdullah bin Ahmed Al Saleh, under-secretary, UAE Ministry Of Economy for Foreign Trade And Industry Affairs.
"This annual sourcing event is the perfect setting for realising the hub-to-hub synergy and potential business opportunities that exist between the UAE and Hong Kong. Both locations are at the doorstep to important markets in the Middle East and Africa region and Asia respectively."
Apart from the 100 Hong Kong and China Mainland exhibitors, another 20 companies will take part in the hktdc.com Small Orders showcase, where buyers can place orders of between five and 1,000 pieces. Around 1,000 importers, distributors, mass retailers, mail-order houses, department stores and specialised stores from the UAE, Africa and other neighbouring countries and regions are expected to take part in the two-day Lifestyle Expo in Dubai.
- sandhya@khaleejtimes.com