The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region’s commerce chief is targeting official visits to Türkiye and Egypt within the year, part of efforts to diversify the city’s economic ties and secure new markets for trade and investment.

In an exclusive interview with China Daily on Tuesday, Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Algernon Yau Ying-wah said business representatives, including companies from the Chinese mainland, are expected to join the visits. While these mainland firms have a rising appetite for global growth, many still lack international connections and experience.

Yau described both destinations as geographically important, with Türkiye straddling Europe and Asia, and Egypt serving as a gateway to Africa.

Their economic and trade ties with Hong Kong “are not strong but growing”. Türkiye ranked as the SAR’s 29th-largest trading partner in 2025, with bilateral trade rising 71 percent over the past decade, according to the Hong Kong Trade Development Council. Hong Kong’s principal exports to the two markets are telecommunication equipment and related components.

The Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (IPPA) between the Hong Kong SAR and Türkiye took effect in February, and negotiations with Egypt are underway, aimed at facilitating and safeguarding bilateral investment flows.

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The planned visits build on an assertive outbound push by the Hong Kong SAR government in recent years, as it woos emerging markets in search of new growth drivers and to buffer against global trade headwinds.

Yau said that the Hong Kong SAR has concluded IPPA negotiations with economies including Qatar, Peru, and Bangladesh. Moreover, the city’s Economic and Trade Office (ETO) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, which began operations late last year, will hold an official opening ceremony in August. It is Hong Kong’s fourth ETO in Southeast Asia.

Hong Kong is also planning to negotiate with Central Asian economies such as Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan on free trade agreements and IPPAs, Yau said, adding that the possibility of establishing an ETO in the region is under consideration.

In early June, business leaders, including those from mainland firms, joined a delegation led by Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, where 96 memorandums of understanding were signed. In May last year, Lee led a mission to Kuwait and Qatar that concluded 59 MoUs and agreements, marking the first time mainland companies formally participated in a Hong Kong overseas trade delegation.

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Yau said that although it will take time for enterprises to turn MoUs into concrete projects, such agreements typically kick-start negotiations and mutual visits, enabling firms to identify opportunities and move quickly into new markets.

He cited an artificial intelligence company that joined last May’s Middle East trip as an example. After gaining on-the-ground insights into local demand and building its network, the firm, with the help of investment promotion agency InvestHK, connected with the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing and Hong Kong Science & Technology Parks Corporation, to launch its overseas-focused R&D and commercialization plans.

Empowering firms’ global push

Of the 11,070 companies in Hong Kong with parent firms based outside the city in 2025, nearly 30 percent are headquartered in the Chinese mainland, according to the Census and Statistics Department. Around half of the 560 companies that established or scaled up their operations in Hong Kong last year were from the mainland. “Most of them expressed interest in using Hong Kong as a springboard for international expansion,” Yau said.

These enterprises face multiple challenges when going global, he added. Hong Kong and many target markets, for instance, operate under common law regime, which is widely used in international business negotiations and differs from the civil law system practiced in the Chinese mainland. Differences in culture, financial norms and business practices can also complicate their overseas exploration.  

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This is where Hong Kong can help, Yau said. “Hong Kong is a place where East meet West. We have global exposure and experience that mainland companies may not have.”

“If mainland enterprises go out on their own and knock on doors, what if they knock on the wrong ones? With us, however, there is a guarantee they won’t. The destinations we take them to are good ones.”

To meet rising demand for professional support, the Hong Kong SAR government in October launched the Task Force on Supporting Mainland Enterprises in Going Global, steered by Yau. The body coordinates cross-bureau, cross-department and cross-sector resources to customize services for firms expanding abroad.

As a member of the task force, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council rolled out the GoGlobal Cross-sectoral Professional Services Platform earlier this year. Yau said, more than 200 providers covering areas including finance, legal, accounting, design and marketing as well as logistics have joined, and the platform has fielded over 100 enquiries to date.

“For companies eyeing international markets, task force members can help them set up various functional offices in Hong Kong, such as regional headquarters, corporate treasury centers, supply chain management centers, and intellectual property trading hubs,” said Yau.

These service providers can also help firms establish internationally compliant structures, cross-border financing arrangements, and regulatory credentials, before they venture into overseas markets, he added.

Contact the writer at irisli@chinadailyhk.com