Stimulating business collaboration between Hong Kong, the Chinese mainland and the UAE as well as the rest of the Middle East-Africa (MEA) region at the two-day lifestyle expo which opened yesterday in Dubai with the aim to help companies seize the enormous business opportunities emerging from China's Belt and Road Initiative and Expo 2020 Dubai.

Products showcased there are consumer electronics, information and communications technology (ICT) products, household products and electrical appliances, fashion and fashion accessories, gifts and premiums, as well as watches and clocks.

The event showcases products from about 110 Hong Kong and mainland companies to an expected 1,300 buyers from the UAE, Iran and Africa.

HKTDC Assistant Executive Director, Stephen Liang, said: "The Lifestyle Expo in Dubai serves as an ideal platform for suppliers from Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland and buyers from the Middle East and Africa to forge business partnerships," said Liang. "This cooperation between Hong Kong, the mainland and the UAE creates synergy to our mutual benefit."

He said such partnership is especially important in view of the Belt and Road Initiative, which aims to connect markets in more than 60 countries spanning Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Europe, including Hong Kong and the UAE. These economies represent about 4.6 billion potential consumers and accounting for over 30 per cent of global merchandise trade.

Hong Kong's largest trading partner and export market in the Middle East is the UAE. Mutual trade between the two places grew at an average annual rate of 14 per cent from $4.80 billion in 2010 to $10.6 billion in 2016.