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SCMP Editorial
Editorial
SCMP Editorial

Boosting trade with the Global South makes sense for Hong Kong

To help local and national firms go global, Hong Kong’s statutory trade office should foster links in regions with untapped opportunities

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A container ship sails through Hong Kong waters on April 2, 2025. Photo: AFP
SCMP Editorial
Editorials represent the views of the South China Morning Post on the issues of the day.
As Hong Kong emerges as a “superconnector” bridging mainland China and the rest of the world, combining global market access with deep regional integration, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (TDC) will play an increasingly important role as our super trade promoter. Times are changing and the council needs to change as well. It is no longer enough to link Hong Kong firms with overseas developed markets; the council rightly aims to help mainland and local firms spread their wings globally.

This is partly due to trade and geopolitical tensions between China, Europe and the United States. Growth in those mature markets has slowed. Council chairman Frederick Ma Si-hang expects a 20 per cent growth in Hong Kong’s annual exports, despite a fresh wave of US tariffs. The Global South will take up much of the slack.

This means exploring new markets in Africa, Central Asia, the Middle East, and Central and South America. The Nordic countries, Poland and Turkey will also offer new opportunities. Trade between Hong Kong and Africa reached US$6.53 billion last year. Beijing now offers zero tariffs to 53 African nations.

TDC will soon have 52 centres around the world, including a new one to be opened in Cairo. This follows InvestHK, the city’s investment promotion agency, which already has an operating office in the Egyptian capital. Central Asian countries are another interest for the TDC as they form a key part of the Belt and Road Initiative. Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu led a delegation of officials and business leaders to the region in June.

To streamline operations, the council will divide trade promotion into six industry clusters, each with a manager in charge: finance and professional services, global supply chains, technology and digital innovation, wellness and creative industries, consumer goods, and corporate development. This will help tailor specific programmes.

But Southeast Asia remains a key to the city’s trade. Malaysia, for example, is Hong Kong’s second-largest foreign investor after Singapore, with a cumulative investment of US$34.8 billion. The council will launch a major campaign in Kuala Lumpur next month to facilitate business matchmaking across the region. The Hong Kong stock market will soon be open to counterpart Bursa Malaysia for secondary listings by listed firms from the country, after similar pacts with Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand.
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