The 36th Hong Kong Toys and Games Fair held earlier this month was a big success. Nothing is as joyful as starting off the New Year with something new to play with. They provide good and healthy entertainment that captures our imaginations and keep us young at heart.

Toys and games play a unique role in Hong Kong industries, first as manufacturing and more recently as trade services and creative industries. Unlike other manufacturing products, toys bring us pleasure in virtual reality, subject to infinite re-design according to our desires. Other than being recreational, toys are serving multi-functions in our daily lives with educational features, decorative peripherals and other practical usages. Moreover, the prosperity of the toy industry also drives the proliferation of other manufacturing sectors, such as plastics, electronics, stationery, gifts and premiums.

Toy design and games making are also important creative industries, the broad sectors to which the government attaches importance and which have huge potential for growth. Creative industries generate profit through innovative ideas in culture and the arts, which are copyrighted and exported. From this perspective, toys and games together with other creative industries not only are of critical importance to our present economy, but also to Hong Kong's future growth.

In 2009, from January to November, toys worth over HK$89 billion were exported from Hong Kong. I believe this figure would have been higher still had it not been for the aftermath of the global financial crisis, which cut consumer spending on a global scale. With the recovery of regional economy in full swing and engines of China's economy revving up, we can expect a lucrative future for the toy industry.

As the average urban family on the mainland has become more affluent and a rising population of youngsters seeks toys and games of higher standard, toys and games should be taking a timely turn to address the domestic market.

I am particularly delighted to see that the Hong Kong Trade Development Council is gearing up its efforts to enhance services to the city's small and medium enterprises in toy and other sectors such as the provision of timely market intelligence, potential business opportunities and trade links with overseas companies. While the entire public sector is faced with a diminishing pool of resources, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, with its established international trade network, is delivering enhanced value to its customers. The growing variety of customer services and increasing number of trade visitors are fruits of this long-term cultivation that we must not take for granted.

To adults, toys and games make us young at heart and curious for novelties of life. In a playful manner, they re-vitalize and re-shape our world views. So it is really in keeping with the spirit of the New Year that we feel inspired by the toys and games at the trade fair.

The author is former secretary for home affairs

(HK Edition 01/27/2010 page1)