Exclusive | Tech and public works to drive growth for Hong Kong businesses in Southeast Asia, commerce minister says after visit

Transport and infrastructure projects supplanting traditional industries in region that accounts for hefty share of city’s trade

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Hong Kong Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Edward Yau (left) with Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc in Hanoi. Photo: Handout

Published: 4:35pm, 25 Mar 2018Updated: 11:53am, 26 Mar 2018

Focusing on transport and infrastructural projects in Southeast Asia will pay off for Hong Kong professionals and businesses, the city’s commerce minister said, as the region’s economy is more driven by technological and public works investments than traditional industries.

Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Edward Yau Tang-wah also expressed confidence that Hong Kong would maintain strong trade ties with Vietnam, despite analysts describing the China-Vietnam relationship as complicated. He believed Beijing’s relationship with the country had remained “cordial”.

Yau led a delegation of more than 40 business leaders and professionals on a five-day trip to Cambodia and Vietnam. Photo: Handout

Yau spoke exclusively to the Post at the end of his five-day trip to Cambodia and Vietnam last week. He led a delegation of more than 40 leaders from the city’s major business chambers, professional bodies, start-ups and manufacturers, and met Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc as well as Cambodia’s commerce minister Pan Sorasak and public works minister Sun Chanthol.

It was Hong Kong’s first official trade delegation since the city signed two long-awaited free-trade agreements in November with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean). The deals allow Hong Kong businesses to enjoy lower tariffs, fewer restrictions and better protection in the bloc’s 10-member countries in future.

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Yau said the delegation saw how Cambodia and Vietnam were now keen to attract overseas professionals and financiers, not just manufacturers, to work on large-scale infrastructure projects, including railways and ports.