Overseas Offices

The government's overseas public relations efforts are concentrated on
Hong Kong's major business partners in North America, Europe and the
Asia-Pacific region. This work is carried out through the Hong Kong
Economic and Trade Offices (HKETOs) in London, Brussels,
Washington, DC, New York, San Francisco, Toronto, Tokyo, Sydney
and Singapore.

The Geneva HKETO deals with international trade issues under the World
Trade Organisation. It also liaises with the Paris-based Organisation for
Economic Co-operation and Development.

The HKETO in London opened in July to replace the Hong Kong
Government Office and the new office of the HKETO in Washington,
DC, was formally opened by Chief Executive during his visit to the United
States in September. The Geneva office moved into its own office
building at the end of 1997 and its official opening is planned for 1998.

These offices (apart from Geneva) provide general news and information
services, present promotional events, brief the media and work with the
ISD to produce news releases specifically for their different audiences.
The offices also monitor media coverage and parliamentary proceedings
or congressional debates on issues of interest to Hong Kong. The
overseas offices also advise and assist the ISD and other departments in
drawing up programmes for VIP visitors, such as policy-makers,
government officials, politicians, opinion leaders and journalists, to help
them learn more about Hong Kong, its interests and relationships with the
world community. They work closely with the 'Hong Kong family' (Hong
Kong-related organisations) to encourage and sustain positive interest in
Hong Kong and to generate a greater understanding of the issues affecting
it. Each overseas office also produces special newsletters containing a
digest of news and events in Hong Kong. These are widely distributed to
contacts in the respective countries.

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