Sometimes we need to be reminded that the function of the state is to facilitate and not to harass. The experience of the average South African motorist - who only ever sees the metro police collecting bribes from drivers for illegal cellphone usage or manning speed traps on downhill slopes - does not have to be the norm. In other countries, traffic officers direct cars at an intersection on the rare occasions when the robots aren't working, or help drivers seeking directions to a destination.

In SA, the wine industry receives no meaningful support from the government - even though it is a major export force and one of the more visible (and credible) manifestations of Brand SA in places that have tourism potential. The winelands of the Western Cape are among the top five tourism destinations in the subcontinent.

The success of the wine industry is a tribute to the power of private enterprise, even in the presence of the state's studied lack of interest in anything to do with wine (other than consuming it, or pontificating about its consumption or collecting tax on what is consumed ).

The annual wine tourism awards - judged through the Great Wine Capitals of the World organisation - celebrates the achievements of producers that have made a world- class statement on their properties.

This year's laureates include Rust en Vrede (the overall winner), Vergelegen, Cloof, Robertson Wine Valley, Waterford Estate, Devon Valley Hotel and Grande Provence.

Under these circumstances it is worth comparing what might have happened had the state adopted a more supportive attitude to the wine industry's achievements.

When the Hong Kong authorities sought to turn the Special Administrative Region into the major Asian wine trading hub, they halved duties (from an ad valorem of nearly 100%) and a year later eliminated them entirely. You can't talk about being a free port if the government is skimming a take on either the traffic or the transactions.

Their gamble was whether the extra revenue would compensate for the loss of duties. It is clear, a little under two years since wine taxation was eliminated, that Hong Kong is making more money from being a wine trading hub than it ever earned from a ludicrously inflated "sin" tax.

This year's Hong Kong Wine and Spirits Fair saw the number of exhibitors doubling compared with last year - and this in the midst of a recession that has hurt the liquor industry as badly as any other sector. The exhibitors and visitors I spoke to appeared to be gratified by the results, and by the obvious potential of the market.

More importantly, hard evidence of the success of the trading hub strategy is emerging from the Hong Kong fine wine auction market, which is set this year to overtake London as the second-most important in the world (after New York).

Research undertaken by the Hong Kong authorities had revealed that, while many of the buyers were based in Asia, they transacted through London and stored the bulk of their purchases in the UK because of the Hong Kong tax regime. With the elimination of duties, the most palpable evidence of this seismic trading shift is this booming secondary market.

This relocation of the fine wine business is helping to generate much of the tax revenue lost from the abolition of duties. It has also created an entirely new service industry around wine logistics and storage. With many buyers and sellers resident in and around China, they now have the option of keeping the stock closer to home.

The Hong Kong authorities have been proactive in facilitating this development - again avoiding the temptation to be bureaucratic impediments. Recognising the importance of quality storage if (literally) billions of dollars of wine is going to be held within their jurisdiction, they have initiated a warehouse certification scheme.

By verifying the conditions under which the wines are being stored, they are helping to ensure that this business is not a one-way trade, or a five-minute wonder.

Is anyone from our Department of Trade and Industry paying attention?

From Business Day, 2 December 2009