Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office

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The Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (HKETO) is the representation of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China abroad. Since citizens of most countries do not need visas to enter Hong Kong, the HKETO concentrates most of its work on promoting trade and tourism in Hong Kong. In countries or regions where where there is no HKETO, the embassy of the People's Republic of China has the duty of representing Hong Kong's interests, including processing Hong Kong visas.

Prior to the handover in 1997, Hong Kong's commercial interests in its major markets were represented by Hong Kong Government Offices - consular matters were handled by the relevant British Embassy or High Commission. In preparation for the handover, the British and Chinese governments agreed that these Offices should be renamed Hong Kong Economic and Trade Offices, to make clear that they did not have diplomatic or consular functions. In the UK, the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office Act 1996 conferred a number of personal immunity and tax privileges on the HKETO in London; similar arrangements were negotiated with the host countries of other HKETOs.

[edit] Overseas representation in Hong Kong

When Hong Kong was a British colony, Commonwealth member states, unlike other countries, were represented in Hong Kong by Commissioners. However, since the 1997 handover, they have been represented by Consulates, subordinate to their embassies in Beijing. Owing to Hong Kong's economic importance, and the large number of British passport holders, the British Consulate-General [1] is the largest of its kind in the world and larger than many embassies.