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The purview of the London office spans over nine European countries. Hong Kong's representative to the international Maritime Organisation is based in the London office.

Since April 2007, a designated team has also started operating in Brussels to prepare for the setting up of a new ETO in Berlin. The Berlin office will help to foster closer economic and trade ties between Hong Kong and countries in central and eastern Europe, and further strengthen Hong Kong's representation in Europe. The new ETO is expected to commence operation in Berlin in March 2009.

The Washington office represents Hong Kong's interests in the capital of the United States. It focuses on monitoring

on monitoring and liaising closely with the US Administration, Congress and think tanks on government policies and new legislation that may have implications on Hong Kong's trade with the US. The New York office is responsible for promoting economic and trade interests in 31 states in the East Coast region of the US and the San Francisco office is responsible for 19 states in the West Coast region.

The offices in Sydney, Tokyo and Toronto are responsible for bilateral economic and trade relations in their host countries. In addition, the Sydney office covers New Zealand and the Tokyo office covers the Republic of Korea. The Singapore office looks after Hong Kong's economic and trade relations with the member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

External Commercial Relations

Hong Kong's Participation in the World Trade Organisation

The HKSAR is a founding member of the WTO and has continued its separate membership in the WTO since July 1, 1997 under the name of 'Hong Kong, China'. The objective of Hong Kong's participation in the WTO is two-fold: to sustain the momentum of trade liberalisation, especially in areas of interest to the HKSAR, such as tariffs and services, and to strengthen the multilateral rules-based trading system. so that it remains an effective framework to promote trade expansion and liberalisation, as well as

as to

to protect the HKSAR against any arbitrary and discriminatory actions taken by its trading partners.

The HKSAR participates actively in the current round of multilateral trade negotiations launched at the WTO's Fourth Ministerial Conference in Doha, Qatar, in November 2001 (the Doha Round), mainly to seek greater market access for its services sectors and industrial goods. The negotiations have not resulted in any breakthrough over the past year due to persistence of conflicting positions of major players on various important subjects. However, WTO members remain fully committed to the Doha Round and are working to converge views on the negotiation process and the substance. The HKSAR will continue to play an active and constructive role in the negotiations and push for its early and successful conclusion.