Beijing lobbying for world’s biggest free-trade pact to admit Hong Kong this year: minister

The free-trade agreement covers nearly a third of the world’s population and about 30 per cent of global gross domestic product.

Asean, or the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

The city applied to join the free-trade pact in January 2022, undergoing an about 18-month vetting process.

But Yau remained hopeful on Friday that Hong Kong could join RCEP this year, saying Beijing had pushed its fellow members to speed up the approval process.

“The Asean countries have shown their support for Hong Kong to become a member, while we have actively lobbied for the support of other members such as the mainland, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea on many occasions,” he said.

“Our nation has also urged all other members to finish the approval process as soon as possible to allow Hong Kong to join RCEP. We expect we can finish the relevant procedures this year.”

The trade agreement was created on January 1, 2022, and aims to eliminate up to 90 per cent of tariffs on imports between its signatories over a 20-year window.

Hong Kong’s request to join was filed when the trading bloc only comprised its 10 inaugural economies, with any applications to join needing the approval of all members.

Hong Kong was looking at setting up overseas economic and trade offices in Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh and Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur as part of plans announced in this year’s budget, he said.

“InvestHK will also set up consultant offices respectively in Cairo, the capital of Egypt, and Izmir, the third largest city in Turkey, within 2024-25 to bring in capital and enterprises from high-potential emerging countries in the Middle East and North Africa,” Yau added.

“Hong Kong Trade Development Council will also set up consultant offices in Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh, and Phnom Penh, the capital city of Cambodia, in the coming year to strengthen trade promotion in emerging countries.”

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Yau also said his bureau would exceed its target of attracting 1,130 enterprises in three years to set up shop or expand their operations in Hong Kong, with 382 companies opting in last year.

He noted that 136 companies making up last year’s figure were from the mainland, while another 122 came from the United States, Singapore and Australia.

“In the first three months of this year alone, some 150 foreign firms have set up shop in Hong Kong. At this pace, we will exceed the performance indicator as stipulated by the chief executive,” he said.