K. Hyun Chung head of the Business Matching Mission says Hong Kong is the perfect conduit for Korean SMEs to the Chinese mainland

Small and medium sized companies in Korea are keen to team up with Hong Kong firms to produce, source or sell more competitively in the Chinese mainland, according to the leader of the recent Korean Electronics Partnership Mission to the SAR.

K. Hyun Chung president of Haanol Technology Ltd, a company that specialises in laser marking systems, says Hong Kong is a good partner because of the SAR's proximity to the Pearl River Delta (PRD), its management skills and reputation as one of the world's leading business and financial hubs.

"Hong Kong is the perfect partner to help Korean SMEs enter the Chinese mainland as Hong Kong firms understand the ways of doing business in the mainland and being an international city, it also knows Korea very well. Who better than Hong Kong to act as a conduit between Korea and China," says Mr Chung.

Mr Chung added that opportunities abound in the mainland market for the production and sales of IT equipment and components. "Both Korea and China are advanced technologically but we need Hong Kong to put us together and help us build a working relationship."

It is the first time that the delegation consisting of six electronics companies from Daejeon city in south Korea is visiting Hong Kong, the PRD and Shanghai.

South Korea is the 7th largest export market and the 6th largest import source of Hong Kong.  The SAR is well placed to facilitate entrepot trade between China and South Korea as in the first half of 2003, total trade between these two countries via Hong Kong increased by 23 per cent to US$3.9 billion. 

The Business Matching Mission is jointly organised by KITA (Korean International Trade Association) and the Trade Development Council (TDC).