Hong Kong is building a “non-stop pipeline” of investment and trade links across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), expanding its network of offices and investment-promotion teams as it seeks to position the Asian financial centre as a gateway between Gulf capital and China.
The push is increasingly focused on the Gulf, but is also extending into North Africa and other emerging markets.
The strategy reflects a broader shift in Hong Kong’s international economic policy as companies and investors reassess supply chains, capital allocation and market access amid geopolitical fragmentation.
Hong Kong’s Economic and Trade Office in Dubai already covers all six GCC economies — Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE — and has been operating as the city’s official representative in the region since 2021.
InvestHK’s Cairo office covers Egypt as well as Algeria, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia and Iran, while its Istanbul operation covers Turkey. The network is designed to bring Middle Eastern and North African capital and companies into Hong Kong while helping Hong Kong businesses enter those markets.
The commercial opportunity is already visible in trade data. Bilateral trade between Hong Kong and the Gulf rose about 35% year on year in the first five months of 2026, according to Financial Secretary Paul Chan. Trade with the UAE increased by more than 52% during the period.
Chan has also pointed to a structural shift in Gulf investment patterns.
“Gulf sovereign wealth funds, traditionally heavily exposed to the US and Europe, directed about 40% of the tens of billions of dollars they allocated globally last year towards Asia,” he said.
That creates an opportunity for Hong Kong to act as a capital-market bridge. The city offers Middle Eastern investors access to mainland Chinese companies and Asian markets, while giving Chinese and Hong Kong businesses a platform from which to raise capital and expand into the Gulf.
The connection is particularly relevant to Saudi Arabia. Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing opened a Riyadh office in early 2026 and appointed Jalal Almarhoon as its chief regional representative for the Middle East.
His mandate includes promoting Hong Kong as a listing venue and strengthening links between the city’s capital markets and Middle Eastern investors.
The relationship is also being supported by a growing framework of investment agreements. Hong Kong has signed investment promotion and protection agreements with Bahrain, Kuwait, Turkey and the UAE, while negotiations or discussions are under way with Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt.
Qatar is particularly significant. Hong Kong has substantially concluded negotiations on an investment promotion and protection agreement with Doha, while Saudi Arabia remains among the markets where discussions are continuing.
Financial services are another major pillar. Hong Kong is seeking to capture Gulf demand for asset management, wealth management, family offices and offshore renminbi products. Chan has highlighted the city’s position as the world’s largest offshore RMB centre and a major international asset-management hub.
The city’s stock exchange is also recovering its position as a global fundraising centre. More than 400 companies were in Hong Kong’s IPO pipeline earlier this year, while international companies from countries including Indonesia, Singapore and South Korea have been exploring listings.
For Gulf businesses, Hong Kong’s appeal lies not simply in raising money but in reaching Chinese and wider Asian investors. For Hong Kong, meanwhile, Middle Eastern capital provides an increasingly important source of diversification as the city seeks to broaden its international investor base.
The strategy therefore goes beyond opening offices. Hong Kong is building a network combining government representation, investment promotion, capital markets, trade agreements and business matchmaking.
That “non-stop” approach could become increasingly important as Gulf economies diversify beyond hydrocarbons and seek technology, infrastructure and financial partnerships, while Hong Kong looks to strengthen its role as a connector between China, Asia and the Global South.