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Commerce and Industry

ETO represents Hong Kong's interests and promotes bilateral relations in nine countries. Hong Kong's representative to the International Maritime Organisation is based in the London ETO. The Berlin ETO fosters closer economic and trade ties between Hong Kong and eight countries in central and eastern Europe.

The Washington ETO represents Hong Kong's interests in the United States capital. It liaises closely with the US Administration, Congress and think tanks and monitors government policies and legislation that may have implications on Hong Kong's economic and trade relationships with the USA. The New York ETO promotes Hong Kong's economic and trade interests in 31 eastern states of the USA, while the San Francisco ETO is responsible for 19 western states.

The ETOS in Sydney, Tokyo and Toronto are responsible for bilateral economic and trade relations in their host countries. In addition, the Sydney ETO covers New Zealand and the Tokyo ETO covers the Republic of Korea. The Singapore ETO looks after Hong Kong's bilateral economic and trade relations with the 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

For details of the promotional activities organised by the overseas Hong Kong ETOS, please refer to the section on Promoting Hong Kong Worldwide in Chapter 17 (Communications, the Media and Information Technology).

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 the establishment of the HKSAR under the name of 'Hong Kong, China Hong Kong participates in the WTO to sustain the momentum of trade liberalisation, and to strengthen the multilateral rules-based trading system. The HKSAR participates actively in the current round of multilateral trade negotiations launched in Doha, Qatar, in November 2001, mainly to seek greater market access for its services sectors and industrial goods.

Regional Economic Co-operation

Hong Kong continues to play an active role in enhancing regional economic co-operation. It participates as a full and separate member in Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC), a regional forum for high-level dialogue and co-operation on trade and economic issues, under the name of 'Hong Kong, China. In September 2012, the Financial Secretary and the Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development represented Hong Kong in Vladivostok, Russia, at the 20th APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting and the 24th APEC Ministerial Meeting respectively. In 2012, some 83 per cent of Hong Kong's external trade was conducted with the other 20 member economies of APEC.

The assessment conducted by the APEC Policy Support Unit in 2012 shows that continuing progress has been made by member economies towards APEC's goals of free and open trade and investment by 2010 for industrialised economies and 2020 for developing economies but there are still areas for further improvements. The assessment also shows that Hong Kong maintains a liberal, transparent and open regime for trade and investment.

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