The largest expo of Hong Kong products in the Middle East has opened in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The lifestyle offerings of more than 230 Hong Kong companies are on display at Style Hong Kong in Dubai, December 17-20.
The four-day event, organised by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (TDC), is running for the third consecutive year in Dubai, raising Hong Kong's profile as a premier sourcing hub for high-quality products in the Middle East.
"We are delighted to see the expo growing each year as Hong Kong companies continue to use Dubai as their platform for reaching out to markets throughout the Middle East and Africa," said TDC Council member Dr William Fung, officiating at the event's opening ceremony.
Also officiating was His Highness Sheikh Hasher bin Maktoum Al Maktoum, director general of Dubai's Department of Information.
"We got a very good response to our products during previous editions of this expo, said Naresh Narwani, director of M Bux Electronics Ltd, the largest exhibitor at the fair.
"Our business has grown by almost 50 per cent in the last three years, thanks to Style Hong Kong in Dubai. We see customers from across the Middle East, as well as from North Africa, Iran, India and Pakistan."
"We are here to test the market for our products and explore the business potential in this region. So far, it has been quite good," said Clement Cheung of Earnings Ltd, a first-time exhibitor at the expo.
"We have received many enquiries from buyers and are expecting orders after we return to Hong Kong," said Angela Lau, Managing Director of Flamingo Gifts Collection.
The company produced crystal and gold-plated items tailored for the local market, including miniatures of the holy mosque in Mecca.
"Our Taj Mahal model is especially popular with the many Indian buyers here," Lau added.
Hong Kong products on display cover electronics and IT products, fashion accessories, gifts and premiums, interior furnishings and hotel supplies, household products, jewellery and watches and, for the first time, construction materials.
In the first eight months of 2006, bilateral trade between the UAE and Hong Kong was about US$2.26 billion, up six per cent from the corresponding period the previous year.
