MaineBusiness.com

Hong Kong`s senior representative in the United States visited Maine on Wednesday and Thursday, exploring trade possibilities for companies from her region and touting the opportunities it could hold for state firms.

Margaret Fong, Hong Kong commissioner for economic and trade affairs, USA, visited the Lewiston-Auburn area Wednesday and met with business and state government leaders in Portland on Thursday before flying back to her office in Washington.

Hong Kong was a British colony for more than 150 years but switched to Chinese sovereignty 10 years ago. Today it is a Special Administrative Region of China, mostly autonomous in economic, trade, financial and monetary matters.

Although the United States has been trading with Hong Kong for a number of years, much of the trade is concentrated in California, Texas and New York, Fong said. In an effort to expand that, she`s been traveling to other states to learn about their economies.

Fong said she learned several things about Maine that could be of interest to Hong Kong companies. One was the existence of the Auburn Intermodal Terminal, a railway/trucking port that might benefit transportation of goods from the West Coast to the East Coast via Canada.

She also noted that Hong Kong has a large printing sector but doesn`t import much paper from Maine, so there might be opportunities to grow that business.

She also said there might be natural partnerships between the financial and insurance operations in Maine and their counterpart sectors in Hong Kong.

The U.S. exported $17.8 billion worth of goods to Hong Kong in 2006. Maine`s exports totaled $37 million and were dominated by leather and related products, at $21.4 million.

Fong began her pitch to a small group of state government officials and business leaders Thursday by talking about Hong Kong`s strengths in rule of law and protection of intellectual property.

Many U.S. businesses are attracted to China for both labor costs and the untapped market, but product piracy is a very real fear. Those concerns are moot in Hong Kong, Fong said, because of the region`s separate legal system.

In fact, many foreign companies setting up contracts to do business in China establish provisions that any legal disputes will be settled in Hong Kong, Fong said.

Some partnerships between mainland companies are now including the same types of provisions, she said.

Fong said Hong Kong`s court of final appeal is set up with four judges from the region and one rotating judge from another country — ``just to make sure we are fully integrated into the common law machine,`` she said.

Fong said that intellectual property is of such importance in Hong Kong, students in elementary school through secondary school are actually taught in their classes about its value. The concept of trying to prevent piracy through education, while also enforcing regulations on the matter, is unique and has started to draw interest elsewhere, she said.

Fong also pushed the idea that companies setting up operations in Hong Kong can use that region as a springboard to China, taking advantage of the legal, accounting, finance and other experts there who are versed in doing business on the mainland.

John Richardson, commissioner of Maine`s Department of Economic and Community Development, said he sees similarities between Hong Kong and Maine that can be exploited.

``We love to create partnerships. That`s what the world — and trade — is about,`` he said.

Staff Writer Matt Wickenheiser can be contacted at 791-6316 or at: mwickenheiser@pressherald.com