Improving business and investment ties between Alberta and Hong Kong is one of the goals of a major promotion being held in Calgary this month.

And the possibility of using Asia’s “most international city” as a jumping-off point for doing business in mainland China is being touted as an added benefit for Alberta businesses during this week’s exhibition, which will later be featured in Edmonton.

“There are so many things we have in common,” says Rosanna Ure, the director of the Toronto-based Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, an arm of the Hong Kong government that promotes Canadian investment in the former British colony as well as helping facilitate trade negotiations.

“Both cities are very entrepreneurial, both are very business friendly, and we want to do business with other parts of the world. So it’s very natural that we regard Calgary as more or less our twin city.”

Photo courtesy Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office
Alberta Health Minister Gary Mar performs a ceremony to dot the lion’s eye at the Hong Kong exhibit at Calgary’s Chinook Centre last week.

The “Hong Kong and Calgary – Cities of Dynamism” event runs until Feb. 25 at Chinook Centre, featuring a photo exhibition and a Spring Lantern Festival.

Alberta and Quebec are the only Canadian provinces with representative offices in Hong Kong, which, at the southeastern tip of China, considers itself in a unique position to leverage its ties with the mainland.

Premier Ralph Klein has led a number of trade missions to Hong Kong since it became a “special administrative region” of the People’s Republic of China in 1997 after more than a century of British rule.

A trade mission from Canada to Hong Kong last fall attracted a handful of Alberta companies among 40 Canadian firms, and Ure said part of the reason for the promotion in Calgary and a business seminar to be held in Edmonton later this month is to better publicize some of the opportunities for Alberta-based businesses.

“We’re hoping to raise awareness, spread the word and sensitize Alberta businesses to this golden opportunity,” she said in an interview last week.

“We want to let people know that in the next 10 years, the HK government is going to invest $120 billion in infrastructure projects alone. That means good opportunity for companies here that have the expertise and experience.”

In particular demand will be high-tech and environmental technologies. Key areas of opportunity include municipal sewage, industrial wastewater, air pollution control, solid waste minimization equipment and alternative fuel vehicles.

Combined with more than 1,600 planned infrastructure projects over the next decade including a mega Disneyland project and rail and road expansion, “all this will mean tremendous business opportunities for Canadian companies,” Ure added.

Alberta exports more than $100 million in goods every year to Hong Kong – its 15th-largest export market – primarily in telecommunications equipment, wood pulp, beef and nickel.

Ure also said she hopes businesses here will consider partnering with companies in Hong Kong to help penetrate the often labyrinthine markets in mainland China.

“All in all, I think China is a very attractive market,” she said. “The only problem with Canadian companies is that they do not know China well, and many feel there are a lot of cultural and language barriers.”

A seminar on doing business in Hong Kong will be held in Edmonton on the afternoon of Feb. 28. For more information, see www.hketo.ca.