Global Sources, the city's largest private organiser of trade shows, has made a bigger push for co-operation with the Hong Kong Trade Development Council after criticising the trade promoter's dominance in the industry.
The Nasdaq-listed firm, founded in Hong Kong 40 years ago, has complained that calls since February last year for co-operation in trade shows had been ignored, according to Global Sources president of exhibitions Tommy Wong Tam-wai.
The HKTDC, through a spokesman, said eight of the 35 trade shows it had held this year were hosted jointly with private organisers.
Without specifically answering the call for partnering with Global Sources, he said any private organisers were welcome to have a booth at any HKTDC show to promote its business.
The comments followed a Legislative Council meeting two weeks ago where 40 industry representatives argued over the dual role of the council as a government trade promotion unit and a trade show organiser.
Global Sources, an anchor tenant at the government-controlled AsiaWorld-Expo at Chek Lap Kok for about three years, conceded that the exhibition facility was relatively under-utilised compared with the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai, where the HKTDC has been a dominant host for decades.