Council Committed to Supporting SMEs, Promoting Services
24 June 2015 – During the first year of its three-year planning cycle, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) focused on its three main objectives; helping Hong Kong companies capitalise on the opportunities arising from the new global economic order, promoting Hong Kong as Asia’s global business platform, and enhancing the competitiveness of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The Council laid out its strategies and achievements of the last financial year in its 2014/15 Annual Report, which was tabled today in the Legislative Council.
Chairman’s Reflections
Reflecting on his final year as Chairman of the HKTDC before his term ended on 31 May 2015, Jack So highlighted the HKTDC’s efforts in promoting Hong Kong’s services. “The Asian Financial Forum (AFF), The Hong Kong Entertainment Expo and FILMART, The Business of Intellectual Property (BIP) Asia Forum and the Hong Kong International Licensing Show have all become well established as the premier events of their kind in Asia,” Mr So said. Each of these events continued to attract high-profile participants in 2014/15, “raising the overall international profile of Hong Kong,” he added.
Supporting SMEs
HKTDC Executive Director Margaret Fong, who took up the post on 1 October 2014, said helping Hong Kong SMEs is the primary role of the Council’s work. “While we scan the globe for new markets on behalf of Hong Kong companies, our efforts really begin here at home, where we nurture the competitiveness of Hong Kong SMEs,” Ms Fong said. “The foundation for these efforts is our World SME Expo and Entrepreneur Day, which both showed good growth last fiscal year.”
World of Opportunity
For a fourth consecutive year, the HKTDC organised its large-scale “Think Asia, Think Hong Kong” promotion, which attracted more than 2,600 participants during events in Paris, France and Milan, Italy in October 2014.
Ms Fong said the Council also made headway in creating business opportunities for Hong Kong companies in the dynamic ASEAN region during the last fiscal year. “As a trading bloc, ASEAN is Hong Kong’s second-largest trading partner,” she said. ”To increase opportunities for Hong Kong companies, we organised road shows and business missions to Indonesia, Malaysia and Myanmar and promoted Hong Kong events to ASEAN officials, including AFF, BIP Asia Forum and ALMC. ASEAN attendance was up an average of some 16 per cent at these services events, while at our trade fairs we hosted 36 ASEAN pavilions during the fiscal year.”
Bridgehead Economy
The HKTDC continued to explore opportunities arising from Hong Kong’s position as the gateway between the Chinese mainland and international markets. “A growing element of our services promotion efforts involves positioning Hong Kong not just as a China gateway for overseas companies, but also as the ideal value-adding services provider for outward-looking mainland private enterprises,” Ms Fong said. During the fiscal year, the Council organised joint mainland outbound investment missions with the provinces of Jiangsu, Shandong and Zhejiang to North America as well as missions to Europe in October with companies from Guangdong and Fujian. Meanwhile, the Council enhanced exposure on the mainland for Hong Kong companies by organising Style Hong Kong shows in Wuhan and Nanjing, and expanding the network of Design Gallery shops and mini-stores to more mainland cities.
Smart Connectivity
To further support SMEs and improve knowledge-sharing, the HKTDC expanded its digital capacity during the fiscal year. The Council rolled out a new SME start-up website and transformed the popular Small Order Zone into a real-time online transactional platform called hktdc.com Small Orders.
The HKTDC also launched a new mobile-friendly news website, Hong Kong Means Business (HKMB), in November 2014, providing market intelligence with daily updates of news and information, attracting with more than 228,000 subscribers. Among the market intelligence offered by the HKTDC’s Research Department in the fiscal year were studies by its economists on the Philippines, emerging Eastern European economies, Latin America, Canada and Sri Lanka. The Department produced 19 research reports and published more than 1,900 research articles on the enhanced hktdc.com/Research website.
Going Mobile
An online, interactive version of the HKTDC’s 2014/15 Annual Report has been produced offering videos, multimedia graphics and other interactive features. The Annual Report is available at www.hktdc.com/annualreport2015.
About the HKTDC
A statutory body established in 1966, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) is the international marketing arm for Hong Kong-based traders, manufacturers and services providers. With more than 40 offices globally, including 13 on the Chinese mainland, the HKTDC promotes Hong Kong as a platform for doing business with China and throughout Asia. The HKTDC also organises international exhibitions, conferences and business missions to provide companies, particularly SMEs, with business opportunities on the mainland and in overseas markets, while providing information via trade publications, research reports and digital channels including the media room. For more information, please visit: www.hktdc.com/aboutus. Follow us on Google+ Twitter @hktdc LinkedIn