Commerce Secretary Algernon Yau on Saturday said he remains confident about long-term trade with the Gulf, in spite of the Middle East conflict.

Speaking on an RTHK radio programme, he said the SAR has strengths in areas such as innovation, technology and green finance, which are in high demand in the Gulf.

Yau pointed out the potential of the Middle East, saying it currently only accounts for about 1.5 percent of the SAR’s total trade and that the region's troubles have only affected exchanges to a limited extent.

He believes that when the situation stabilises, it will be back to business as usual for local enterprises with investments there.

Looking ahead, Yau said the government’s plan to set up an economic and trade office in the Saudi capital Riyadh had not changed. He also said the SAR would continue to diversify its markets.

“In the future, we will expand our trade network in Central Asia, Eastern Europe, or use Turkiye as a springboard to go to Egypt and North Africa,” Yau said.

“We have been discussing the possibility of signing free-trade and investment-protection agreements with different economies.”

Yau also said he was very pleased that Hong Kong had been ranked as the world’s fifth-largest trading entity in merchandise trade by the World Trade Organization for last year, two places up from the previous year.

He attributed one of the reasons for its rise to China’s economic development, saying much of the SAR’s trade was re-exports.

The rapid progress of the manufacturing sector in producing high-quality products, electronics, and electric vehicles, he said, has been crucial to the city’s growth in trade.




Edited by Robert Kemp