Speeches

Chinese New Year Reception in Jakarta Indonesia

Following is the speech by the Director-General of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Jakarta, Mrs. DO PANG Wai Yee, at the Chinese New Year Reception organised by the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Jakarta, Indonesia today (February 28):

Your Excellencies, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Kung Hei Fat Choy! Let me wish you all a very happy and prosperous Year of the Dog!

First of all, Selamat Sore, a very good evening to all of you. Thank you for joining us in celebrating the Chinese New Year. I am most delighted to welcome you all here.

The Year of the Rooster was a fruitful year for us. We set up our permanent office in May. We conducted promotion activities and did a lot of networking, so you could have a better understanding of our work here and Hong Kong, our city. We organized or co-hosted events and seminars, in Jakarta and other cities in the region, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the establishment of Hong Kong SAR as well as to promote Hong Kong, in particular our role in the Mainland Belt and Road Initiative. We received delegations from Hong Kong, with a view to exploring business cooperation and investment opportunities in Indonesia and ASEAN. We also promoted cultural activity by sponsoring the 1st dragon boat race in Jakarta last year. We will continue to sponsor this unique cultural event this year to be held in early May 2018.

Hong Kong – ASEAN FTA

We are also delighted to inform you that after more than 3 years of negotiation effort, Hong Kong and ASEAN have signed a Free Trade Agreement and a related Investment Agreement last November.

The Agreements are comprehensive in scope, encompassing trade in goods, trade in services, investment, economic and technical co-operation and dispute settlement mechanisms. They will bring legal certainty, better market access and fair and equitable treatment in trade and investment, thus creating new business opportunities and further enhancing trade and investment flows between Hong Kong and ASEAN, including of course Indonesia, the major market in the region.

During this Year of the Dog, the Agreements are expected to enter into force, on 1 January 2019 the earliest, subject to completion of the necessary procedures.

In the foreseeable future, we will focus on promoting the Agreements, so that both Hong Kong and Indonesian as well as ASEAN companies could make the most out of the offers in the Agreements.

Indeed, the ties between Hong Kong and ASEAN have been growing stronger in the past few years. In 2017, ASEAN was our 2nd largest partner in merchandise trade, with the total value reaching US$119.7 billion, an increase of some 11% over 2016.

As for Indonesia, our total merchandise trade in 2017 reached US$5.3 billion, compared to US$5.0 billion in 2016, an increase of about 7%.

Now, with the Free Trade Agreement and Investment Agreement signed, we expect the ties between Hong Kong and ASEAN including Indonesia to reach new heights in the near future.

This is the reason why we set up our Office here in Jakarta, to complement the work of our existing office in Singapore. In fact, in her Policy Address delivered in October, our Chief Executive, Mrs Carrie Lam announced the setting of up another office in Thailand, which will be our third office in ASEAN. This demonstrates our commitment and determination towards building stronger ties with ASEAN.

Conclusion

To conclude, I thank you all for your support for the last year and look forward to continue working with all of you to continue strengthening the ties between Hong Kong and Indonesia, as well as ASEAN, for an even more fruitful year of the Dog.

Please enjoy the evening. Thank you, Terima Kasih!

Ends/Wednesday, February 28, 2018