Time to upgrade: Simon Galpin and Loek de Vries at the opening ceremony.

Royal Ten Cate, Holland's leading international supplier of industrial products, will upgrade its representative office in Hong Kong into its regional headquarters for the Asia Pacific.

The group will invest up to 60 million euros in Hong Kong and the Mainland.

Royal Ten Cate Chairman Loek de Vries said the company recognises that Hong Kong is a value-added service centre for international companies seeking to enter the Mainland.

Invest HK's Associate Director-General of Investment Promotion Simon Galpin welcomed the company's move.

With China's accession to WTO, the retail market is expected to surge, he said, offering additional opportunities to Hong Kong retailers, especially those with regional headquarters in the city.

"For them, proximity to the mainland market will make overseeing their regional growth that much easier, while the fact of being based in Hong Kong, with its Westernised tradition of trading and rule of law, will make it all possible," he said.

Royal Ten Cate Pacific Limited set up an office in Hong Kong 27 years ago to coordinate the group's business activities in the region.