REMARKS BY REG HOLLOWAY, SENIOR BRITISH TRADE COMMISSIONER, AT THE JOINT BULLDOGS/BRITISH CHAMBER CHRISTMAS LUNCH AT THE FURAMA HOTEL, HONG KONG, TUESDAY 20 DECEMBER 1988
Welcome to this joint Bulldogs and British Chamber of Commerce Christmas lunch. Over the last few months at these lunches we have heard a number of Ministers reviewing the scene in Britain and underlining the vitality in the UK economy. Today I'd like to look briefly at the vitality of the British business presence in Hong Kong.
There are a number of myths about the British presence. But I think in the last year we
that is the British business community
have gone a
long way towards exploding some of them.
-
One myth concerns the amount of business that British companies are doing here. Last year
1987 - was a record year for British exports to Hong Kong with sales worth more than a billion pounds sterling. The latest figures we have for 1988, up to the end of October, suggest we are on course for, or within one percent of, a repeat performance. [In fact sales in 1988 were up £18m on 1987: a total of £1,030m]
-
It is interesting that we are maintaining this high level of exports despite a dip in the supply of capital goods as some large contracts near completion. The reason is that a considerable amount of new business has been achieved. Which helps dispose of another myth: the erroneous idea that the UK is not generating new business in Hong Kong we are! It is showing up across the board and particularly in industrial machinery, textile yarn and fabrics, electrical machinery and chemicals. In all these areas we are selling significantly more and a lot of the new orders have been won by newcomers to the market. Many of you have helped these new people and are representing them in Hong Kong and China.
Apart from these agency arrangements, quite a number of the newcomers have opened their own offices here. The Trade Commission now has regular contact with about 400 British companies in Hong Kong and there are more than that. In the last year the Secretary of Bulldogs has been writing welcoming notes to an average of five British representatives a month inviting them to join and telling them about the British Chamber of Commerce.
You are all, between you, forming something that has been lacking in Hong Kong: a distinct British business community. It didn't seem necessary in the past because of the connection between Britain and Hong Kong but clearly it is useful for British businesses to identify themselves in the same way as other national groups.
The previous lack of a community image was one of the reasons why the British business presence has been under-rated in Hong Kong. The formation of the British Chamber of Commerce was a great step forward and it is in everybody's interest to join. The Chamber is not a duplicate Trade Commission: it can consider matters that are outside the remit of the Trade Commission and it can provide services for members beyond the scope of the support provided by the Trade Commission. We have different roles and though we work closely together, it is important that as many businesses as possible should join the Chamber. I thought the first edition of the Chamber's bulletin "Britain in Hong Kong" published this month was very good. The bulletin isn't the same as the Trade Commission's "Britain Trades" and the content indicates the difference between the Chamber and the Commission. The bi-lingual "Britain Trades" is strictly for trade promotion and it concentrates on new products from Britain and forthcoming trade missions and exhibitions:
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.