HONG KONG 2005

The Commerce and Industry Branch of the Commerce, Industry and Technology Bureau is responsible for the formulation and coordination of policies and strategies in relation to Hong Kong's external commercial relations, inward investment promotion and intellectual property protection. It also oversees the development of policies and programmes for the industrial and trade sectors, including small and medium enterprises (SMEs), as well as the promotion of services industries. The branch is assisted by a number of departments, namely the Trade and Industry Department, Invest Hong Kong, the Customs and Excise Department and the Intellectual Property Department. It is also supported by a network of Economic and Trade Offices outside Hong Kong.

The Trade and Industry Department is responsible for handling the commercial relations of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) with its trading partners, implementing trade policies and agreements, including issuing certificates of origin, export and import licences and certificates of Hong Kong service suppliers and providing general support services for the industrial sector and SMEs.

Invest Hong Kong is responsible for spearheading the Government's efforts to attract inward investment. Its head office in Hong Kong works closely with the Economic and Trade Offices and consultants engaged overseas to offer solution-oriented investment promotion, facilitation and after-care services to ensure that foreign companies have the support required to establish or expand their operations in the HKSAR, and on the Mainland and in the Asia-Pacific region through Hong Kong. Invest Hong Kong also provides information to help companies make informed investment decisions on setting up regional headquarters and regional offices in Hong Kong.

During the year, Invest Hong Kong assisted a record 232 foreign, Mainland and Taiwan companies to set up or expand operations in Hong Kong — an increase of 13.2 per cent over 2004. The total amount of investment generated exceeded $8.9 billion. A total of 2 517 new jobs were created in 2005, while these companies expect to create an additional 5 407 jobs in the next two years.

Invest Hong Kong has identified nine key business sectors in Hong Kong as particularly attractive to overseas investors: financial services; consumer, retail and sourcing; transportation; telecommunications; media and multimedia; business and professional services; information technology; technology (especially electronics and biotechnology); and tourism and entertainment.

Investment promotion activities included sponsoring and participating in several major international conferences. Major events sponsored in 2005 included the 38th International General Meeting of the Pacific Basin Economic Council (PBEC) in June, where the speakers included China's Vice-Premier, Ms Wu Yi, Prime Minister of Malaysia, Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and former US Secretary of State Colin Powell, and the Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (CASBAA) Conference 2005 in October which attracted over 800 senior executives from the broadcasting and telecommunications industries. Other major events supported by Invest Hong Kong during the year were the 3G World Congress and Exhibition and the 8th Annual Global Conference of The Competitiveness Institute.

Invest Hong Kong also organised 10 joint investment promotion programmes with major Mainland provinces and cities, including Guangdong, Dongguan, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Jiangmen, Fujian and Shanghai. These promotions targeted prospective investors in Milan, San Francisco, Toronto, Vancouver, London, Hamburg, Düsseldorf, Tokyo and Osaka.

In addition, it arranged 21 seminars in 17 Mainland cities in 2005, and received 13 incoming delegations from the Mainland to promote Hong Kong as the ideal springboard for Mainland enterprise to expand overseas. Invest Hong Kong also launched a revised simplified Chinese website targeting the Mainland market, which provides online information on Hong Kong's business environment and the procedure for setting up operations in Hong Kong.

The Customs and Excise Department is responsible for enforcing various trade control systems, including the certification of origin system, the textiles import and export control system, the strategic commodities control system and the import and export declaration system. These systems aim to protect and facilitate legitimate trade. The department is also responsible for enforcing the criminal law for the protection of copyright and trade marks, as well as enforcing consumer protection legislation relating to the safety of various commodities, the integrity of weights and measures and the marking of precious metals. In addition, to ensure that Hong Kong has an adequate supply of rice, an essential foodstuff for the local population, at a reasonably stable price, the department monitors the local stock of rice. The department has also taken on the responsibility of enforcing the certification scheme for rough diamonds. Its aim is to stop trade in 'conflict diamonds' from fuelling armed conflicts, activities of rebel movements and the illicit proliferation of armaments.

The Intellectual Property Department runs the Trade Marks, Patents, Designs and Copyright Licensing Bodies Registries, advises on policy and legislation related to intellectual property protection, provides civil intellectual property legal advice to the Government, and promotes public awareness of and respect for intellectual property rights.

The Hong Kong Economic and Trade Offices seek to promote economic and trade interests by enhancing understanding of the HKSAR among opinion-formers; closely monitoring developments that might affect the HKSAR's economic and trading interests, such as proposed legislation; and liaising closely with the business and commercial sectors, politicians, think tanks and the news media. They also organise events to promote Hong Kong's image. In addition, most of these offices seek to attract direct investment into Hong Kong by, for instance, promoting Hong Kong's business advantages under the Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement.

The offices are located in Brussels, Geneva, London, New York, San Francisco, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo, Toronto, Washington and Guangdong.

The Brussels office represents Hong Kong's economic and trade interests in dealings with the European Union (EU). It also monitors and promotes bilateral relations with the EU and its old member states except the United Kingdom.

The Geneva office represents Hong Kong, China, as a member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), and represents Hong Kong as an observer on the Trade Committee of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

The London office promotes Hong Kong's economic and trade interests in the United Kingdom and 16 other countries in Europe. These include non-EU countries Switzerland, Norway and Russia, EU candidates Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania, and the 10 states that joined the EU on May 1, 2004. Hong Kong's representative to the International Maritime Organisation is also based in the London office.

The offices in Sydney, Tokyo and Toronto are responsible for bilateral economic and trade relations in their host countries. The Sydney office is also responsible for promoting Hong Kong's economic and trade interests in New Zealand. The Tokyo office is also responsible for promoting Hong Kong's economic and trade interests in the Republic of Korea. The Singapore office is responsible for Hong Kong's commercial relations with the member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). It also serves as a direct point of contact with the Secretariats of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (PECC), which are located in Singapore.

The Washington office focuses on monitoring and liaising with the US Administration, Congress and think tanks on legislation and government policies that may have implications for Hong Kong's trade with the United States. The New York office and the San Francisco office are responsible for promoting economic and trade relations between Hong Kong and individual US states and also seek to attract direct investment into Hong Kong.

The Guangdong office is located in Guangzhou. Its main duties are to promote trade and economic relationships between Hong Kong and Guangdong Province, provide better support services for Hong Kong businesses operating in Guangdong, especially the Pearl River Delta, and provide free advisory service and assistance to enterprises in the province, which are looking for direct investment opportunities in Hong Kong.