Sunny Chau, the council’s director for Thailand, said yesterday that the HKTDC would bring more than 200 businessmen from Southeast Asia, Hong Kong and China to attend a business symposium in Bangkok on October 6.

The event will give business owners and management-level staff from India, Myanmar, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand the opportunity to meet with key business organisations from Hong Kong and China and discuss potential cooperation, he said.

“The HKTDC will come here to promote Hong Kong as a gateway into China and other parts of the world. Hong Kong can offer a good logistics infrastructure, as well as business solutions and e-commerce. This will match with Thailand’s strategic plans of becoming a hi-tech economy, or ‘economy 4.0’,” he added.

Among the most promising sectors and products from Southeast Asia are foods and food-processing, and jewellery, he suggested.

 The council also hopes to increase the number of Thai exhibitors participating in Hong Kong’s trade fairs, using them as a hub to international markets, Chau said.

“Four or five global-sized fairs take place in Hong each year. These events are venues for Thai investors to seek business in the international market place. More than 600 companies in Thailand have participated in these events,” the director said.

Dannie Chiu, HKTDC regional director for Southeast Asia and India, said Thailand was the second-largest economy in Southeast Asia, while Bangkok was a commercial hub in Asia with a thriving retail market.

Huge potential in AEC

“With the establishment of the Asean Economic Community, we can expect huge potential to cooperate with the Kingdom. The ‘In Style Hong Kong Symposium’ [in Bangkok] next month will highlight Hong Kong’s advantages as a trendsetting hub, and reveal the potential of Hong Kong’s service sectors as partners for Thai companies,” she said.

 “In Style Hong Kong” aims to strengthen economic and trading ties between Hong Kong and Thailand, capitalising on all forms of growth opportunities, she said.

The campaign offers a full range of products from the HKTDC’s Design Gallery, which will be on sale at Betrend and The Selected in Bangkok through to the end of the year, “offering local consumers a chance to experience Hong Kong’s design and creative excellence in lifestyle and household products”, Chiu said.

Hundreds of members of the business community will attend a gala dinner, while there will be a city-wide promotion combining retail and gourmet specialties at venues across Bangkok for the public, she added.

The symposium is also set to promote Hong Kong’s fast track e-commerce logistics, its cross-border trade, and in particular the territory’s e-commerce development, which is also driving huge changes in the traditional logistics industry and distribution networks – opportunities that Thai companies can tap into, the regional director said.

 Moreover, China’s “One Belt One Road Initiative: Digital Framework for Connecting Smart Cities” will be discussed by experts, as well as the latest developments in cross-border payment instruments, smart identity, smart-city infrastructure, interoperability and legal framework, which are essential in strengthening connectivity among smart cities, she added.