Hong Kong council calls for more trade

via CAAI

Wednesday, 29 September 2010 15:01 May Kunmakara

THE Hong Kong Trade Development Council has called for Cambodian companies to take note of Hong Kong’s business and trading expertise to further develop the Kingdom’s business potential.

Tina Phan, director of HKTDC, told delegates at a forum yesterday that only 50 Cambodian companies were conducting business in Hong Kong, but that the market was ripe for more.

“I don’t know a lot about Cambodia’s business potential, but I believe Cambodia is one of the emerging markets [in Asia],” she said.

“So definitely there will be a lot of opportunities for both Cambodian and Hong Kong companies,” she told representatives from more than 200 local companies at the business forum, which took place at Phnom Penh’s Intercontinental Hotel.

More companies should leverage Hong Kong’s business platform to go global, she said. Of the approximately 50 Cambodian companies in Hong Kong most were operating in the areas of jewellery, entertainment, film-makers or music, or handicrafts.

She said that Cambodia would not have any difficulties in doing business in Hong Kong, but that more information on supply and demand needs was required.

“I don’t see any difficulties – just that we don’t know what you have and we don’t know what you need. That’s a key point,” she said.

Trade between the Kingdom and Hong Kong rose 15 percent in the first half of 2010, compared to the same period of last year, official data released by HKTDC showed.

The value of trade increased to US$287 million in the first six months of 2010.

Of this, Hong Kong’s exports to Cambodia increased around 16 percent to $279 million. Hong Kong’s imports from the Kingdom rose around 6 percent.