Initiatives paying off as business makes strides in south China

A concerted effort from Austria to broaden trade initiatives in Hong Kong and southern China has been paying off, with much of the credit due to the Austrian Trade Commission.

Two-way trade between Austria and Hong Kong was going from strength to strength, said Austrian Trade Commissioner for Hong Kong, Macau and South China and committee member of the Austrian Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong (AustroCham), Martin Glatz.

In Hong Kong itself, the Austrian Trade Commission handles the usual trading and sourcing activities from companies in the financial and consumer goods sectors, which Mr Glatz said had experienced substantial growth in the past two to three years.

The activities of the Trade Commission are complemented by AustroCham. The chamber was a progression from the now defunct Hong Kong Austrian Association and was established in order to broaden the scope of what was initially a cultural platform for activities. 'We decided it would make sense to have a platform here for anything Austrian, cultural, commercial, and this became the Austrian Chamber of Commerce,' he said.

There are around 80 subsidiaries of Austrian companies in Hong Kong and 30 mostly manufacturing enterprises in south China.

Mr Glatz also has an office in Guangzhou where he supervises a catchment area covering Hong Kong, Macau and six mainland provinces.

'What we're seeing is more companies investing in the southern part of China, and there's always an increasing awareness of what the Pearl River Delta has to offer.'