Hong Kong to open trade office in Thailand
HONG KONG – The government of China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) will set up an economic and trade office in Thailand to promote ties with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), HKSAR Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said on Tuesday.
Lam announced the plan to media before attending the Executive Council meeting in the morning.
The new trade office, which will probablly be located in Bangkok, will be Hong Kong's third trade office in Asean member states, she said.
Lam said she met Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Economic Leaders' Meeting of 2017 in Vietnam last week, and discussed setting up the new trade office in Thailand.
Both sides wanted to have the office set up as soon as possible, she added.
Noting that Asean is Hong Kong's second largest trading partner in merchandise trade and fourth largest in services trade, she welcomed the signing of a free trade agreement between Hong Kong and Asean on November 12 and vowed to further promote ties between the two sides.