L

ocal businesspeople will have a chance to learn of opportunities and build cooperation with their counterparts from Hong Kong during an upcoming exhibition and symposium that is part of the mega-promotion, In Style Hong Kong, in Jakarta this week.

The event, organized by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC), will showcase dozens of service companies from various sectors, such as legal, finance, design, information and technology.

'€œWe expect to have around 1,000 businesspeople [attending the symposium]'€, said HKTDC director for Indonesia Leung Kwan Ho on Monday. He expressed hope that the symposium could be a meeting point for both countries'€™ entrepreneurs, to forge links amongst themselves and to seal business deals.

'€œThis is to build more long term cooperation,'€ he said, admitting that many Hong Kong businesspeople had never come to Indonesia before, while Indonesian entrepreneurs were struggling to enter international markets.

The symposium and five thematic sessions will take place at the Jakarta Convention Center (JCC) on Sept. 17. There will also be 18 Hong Kong-based services providers and trade organizations that offer business consultations during the symposium.

The symposium is a part of the council'€™s mega-campaign, In Style Hong Kong, which will feature product exhibitions and citywide promotions from Sept. 14 to 20. The exhibition is being held for the fourth time by HKTDC. However, the council claims that this year'€™s event is the biggest.

According to a release by the council made available on Monday, the symposium would focus on, among other things, financial, legal and arbitration services, digital marketing, information and technology services and design and branding consultations. The sessions aim at assisting Indonesian companies expand their businesses in Asia, particularly on the chinese mainland.

The meetings and business match-makings should be mutual as Hong Kong, located just off mainland China, had experience in tapping into China'€™s market, the world'€™s second largest, while Indonesia had resources that Hong Kong did not possess, Ho said.

He added that his office tried to encourage trade in both countries.

According to HKTDC, Indonesia-Hong Kong trade ties amounted to US$5.16 billion in 2014 and Hong Kong was the ninth largest foreign investor in Indonesia, with US$657 million in investments in 2014.

The trade value grew around 4 to 5 percent per annum, growth that was considered healthy and stable by the council.

The HKTDC regional director for Southeast Asia and India, Dannie Chiu, said that her office decided to hold the mega-campaign in Indonesia because it saw the country'€™s potential in terms of business and markets.

'€œIndonesia'€™s population is the world'€™s fourth largest. It'€™s market is mature and sophisticated,'€ she told reporters on Monday, adding that the campaign targeted 10,000 visitors.

During the In Style Hong Kong campaign, a promotion will be held at the Grand Indonesia shopping mall in Central Jakarta to introduce the Hong Kong lifestyle to Indonesians. It will also showcase the Batik Crossover, which is a cooperation arrangement between publicly listed textile manufacturer Sri Rejeki Isman, known as Sritex and six Hong Kong'€™s fashion designers.

The campaign also features a product exhibition at the JCC in which about 200 companies look forward to exhibiting their products.

'€œWe will bring a huge delegation this year,'€ said Chiu, expressing hope that through the event, Hong Kong and Indonesian business people could find ways to team up and expand businesses.

Indonesia'€™s exports are projected to benefit from the weak rupiah, which has lost 14 percent of its value against the US dollar so far this year, its worst performance since the 1998 financial crisis. But the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) recorded that exports dropped 19.2 percent to $11.40 billion year-on-year in July, while imports dropped 28.44 percent to $10.07 billion in the same period. (prm)