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Commerce and Industry

Overseas Hong Kong Economic and Trade Offices

There are 11 overseas Hong Kong ETOS located in Berlin, Brussels, Geneva, London, New York, San Francisco, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo, Toronto and Washington. While the Geneva office mainly represents 'Hong Kong, China' as a member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), and as a participant to the Trade Committee of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) headquartered in Paris, the other ETOS seek to promote Hong Kong's economic and trade interests by enhancing understanding of Hong Kong among opinion- formers; closely monitoring developments that might affect Hong Kong's economic and trade interests; and liaising closely with the business and commercial sectors, politicians, government ministries/agencies, think tanks and the news media. They organise events regularly to promote Hong Kong's image, and ETOs with an Investment Promotion Unit also offer support to individual enterprises interested in setting up or expanding their presence in Hong Kong.

The Brussels ETO represents Hong Kong's overall economic and trade interests in Europe, particularly in dealings with the European Union, including the European Commission and European Parliament. It also promotes Hong Kong's bilateral relations with 15 European countries. The London 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 US. It monitors federal government policies and legislation that may have implications on Hong Kong's economic and trade relationships with the US. The New York and San Francisco ETOS promote Hong Kong's economic and trade interests in 31 eastern states and 19 western states of the US respectively.

The ETOs 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 ETO covers South Korea. The Singapore ETO now looks after Hong Kong's bilateral economic and trade relations with the 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean). In order to tap emerging Asean markets, preparation work is under way to set up a new ETO in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Promotional activities organised by the overseas Hong Kong ETOs are described in the section on Promoting Hong Kong Worldwide in Chapter 16 The Media, Communications and Information Technology.

External Commercial Relations

Participation in World Trade Organisation

Hong Kong is a founding member of the WTO and has continued its separate membership, since the establishment of the HKSAR, under the name 'Hong Kong, China: The rule-based multilateral trading system under the auspices of the WTO is the cornerstone of Hong Kong's external trade policy. Hong Kong takes part actively in the current round of multilateral trade negotiations launched in 2001 in Doha, Qatar, mainly to seek greater market access for its services and goods. It also took part in the 10th WTO Ministerial Conference held in Nairobi,

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