ENG-2009 — Page 149

Commerce and Industry 101

The Washington office represents Hong Kong's interests in the capital of the United States. It liaises closely with the US Administration, Congress and think tanks and monitors government policies and new legislations that may have implications on Hong Kong's economic and trade relationships with the US. The New York office is responsible for promoting Hong Kong's 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 Western 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 ASEAN.

External Commercial Relations

Hong Kong's Participation in the World Trade Organisation

Hong Kong is a founding member of the World Trade Organisation (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, namely 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 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 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 major breakthrough over the past year due to persistence of conflicting positions and lack of engagement among 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 its substance. The HKSAR will continue to play an active and constructive role in the negotiations and push for its early and successful conclusion.

Hong Kong participated in the WTO Seventh Ministerial Conference held in Geneva, Switzerland on November 30 December 2, 2009.

Regional Economic Co-operation

Hong Kong continues to play an active role in enhancing regional economic co-operation. Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) is a regional forum for high-level dialogue and co-operation on trade and economic issues. Hong Kong participates as a full and separate member in APEC under the name of 'Hong Kong, China'. In November 2009, the Chief Executive represented Hong Kong at the 17th APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting held in Singapore. The meeting was preceded by the 21st APEC Ministerial Meeting, where Hong Kong was represented by the Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development. In 2009, some 83 per cent of