Trade advisor swaps Hong Kong for Birmingham

New international trade advisor Timmy Lau has literally flown halfway round the world to join the Chamber.

Timmy (pictured), who speaks Chinese and Cantonese, as well as English, has arrived in Birmingham from Hong Kong, where he had held at number of roles in international trade, specialising in food and drink.

His most recent position in Hong Kong was a four-year spell working as business development manager at the Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade).

In this role he was responsible for developing and delivering Australia 's food and beverage export strategy in Hong Kong and Macao.

Prior to that, he carried out a similar role for Scottish Development International (SDI), where he was assistant development executive for food and drink.

SDI is the trade and investment arm of the Scottish government, and Timmy spent almost three years promoting the country as an ideal location for foreign direct investment, and also developing Scotland 's food and drink export strategy in Hong Kong and Macao.

He also had a near seven-year spell working for the Department for International Trade in Hong Kong, helping to support and promote the UK's trade and investment interests in Hong Kong and Macao in a variety of different sectors.

He said: “It's my honour to be joining the Greater Birmingham Chamber of Commerce as an international trade advisor.

“I believe I can utilise the knowledge and experience that I gained from my previous roles in Hong Kong and Asia, together with the services provided by the Chamber, to support our clients to be successful with exporting. ”