Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region – 4
Following is a question by the Hon Hung Kam-in and a reply by the Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, Mr Algernon Yau, in the Legislative Council today (May 13):
Question:
In recent years, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government has been actively soliciting business and attracting investment, and has set up the Task Force on Supporting Mainland Enterprises in Going Global (Task Force) to assist Mainland enterprises in leveraging the Hong Kong platform to develop global business. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the overall effectiveness of the investment promotion activities and measures to solicit business and attract investment implemented by the Government in the past three years, including the amount of inward investment attracted, the number of job opportunities created and the number of strategic enterprises introduced; given that the Government has set up the Steering Committee on Preferential Policies for Attracting Industries and Investment to formulate preferential policy packages for enterprises, of the progress and timetable of the relevant work, as well as the specific effectiveness expected to be achieved by the relevant measures;
(2) whether statistics have been compiled on the number of Mainland enterprises which have established operations in Hong Kong to develop global business since the establishment of the Task Force, as well as the industry distribution of such enterprises; whether it has assessed the specific effectiveness of the Task Force’s interdepartmental collaboration mechanism in supporting enterprises; and
(3) whether it will, by making reference to the practice of the Task Force, strengthen the Government’s role, and enhance the co-ordination and collaboration of statutory bodies and overseas economic and trade offices, so as to take the lead in providing enterprises with more services for tapping into both the domestic and overseas markets in the form of one-stop support?
Reply:
President,
As an investment promotion agency of the Government, Invest Hong Kong (InvestHK) under the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau (CEDB) has been proactively assisting Mainland and overseas enterprises to set up or expand businesses in Hong Kong by providing them with one-stop customised support, thereby attracting more enterprises and direct investment from outside Hong Kong. As this year marks the beginning of the National 15th Five-Year Plan, the CEDB will accelerate the integration into the overall national development. We will consolidate Hong Kong’s position as an international trade centre and fully leverage our strengths in professional services to help enterprises to go global, serving the country’s needs with Hong Kong’s advantages.
The consolidated reply to the question raised by the Hon Hung Kam-in is as follows:
Regarding supporting Mainland enterprises to go global, the CEDB established the Task Force on Supporting Mainland Enterprises in Going Global (GoGlobal Task Force) last October. It serves as a one-stop platform to actively attract Mainland enterprises to go global through Hong Kong. Since the establishment of the GoGlobal Task Force, I have convened three Steering Committee meetings to formulate a comprehensive work plan. Through the cross-bureau and cross-departmental collaboration mechanism, the GoGlobal Task Force is proactively taking forward various tasks:
(i) First, the GoGlobal Task Force proactively attracts key Mainland enterprises to set up businesses in Hong Kong, assisting them in progressively developing various corporate functions and business operations that satisfy overseas market standards, thereby preparing them for going global. For example, enterprises may establish regional headquarters and corporate treasury centres to fulfil relevant requirements on corporate structures, cross-border capital, industry certifications, compliance, etc. Among the 560 enterprises that have set up or expanded businesses in Hong Kong with InvestHK’s assistance in 2025, the top three sectors are financial services and fintech, innovation and technology, and family office. About half of them (298 enterprises) came from the Mainland, the vast majority of which plan to go global or are going global through the platform of Hong Kong. The GoGlobal Task Force will engage these enterprises that have set up presence in Hong Kong to understand their go global needs and target destinations in order to assist them in preparing for global expansion.
(ii) As one of the GoGlobal Task Force members, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) formally launched the cross-sectoral professional services platform GoGlobal Connect in April this year, bringing together eight groups of Hong Kong professional service providers, including legal services, accounting, financial services, testing and certification services, etc, to precisely match the services needs of go global Mainland enterprises and provide them with professional and customised consultation services. At present, the platform has already followed up on over a hundred enquiries regarding enterprises going global.
(iii) On publicity and promotional work, the GoGlobal Task Force has so far organised over 10 promotional events in Hong Kong and Mainland provinces and municipalities, engaging a total of over 3 000 representatives of Mainland enterprises. In addition to general promotional events that cover multiple industries, many of the events focused on specific industry themes including financial services, innovation and technology, and manufacturing. These industry-specific events provide enterprises from the relevant sectors with more focused and pertinent information and support. To enhance online publicity, the GoGlobal Task Force launched a dedicated website (www.goglobal.gov.hk) in March this year, providing practical information and success stories on enterprises going global and connecting to the HKTDC’s cross-sectoral professional services platform.
(iv) The GoGlobal Task Force will also organise outbound missions, which will be led by government officials, to enable Mainland enterprises to visit overseas markets, including high-potential markets of Belt and Road countries, to allow the enterprises to understand the local market situation.
(v) To step up the collaboration between Hong Kong and the Mainland, the CEDB and the Ministry of Commerce signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in February this year. The MOU seeks to strengthen co-operation and exchange in the provision of comprehensive overseas services and enhance the capacity of supporting Mainland enterprises to go global. In addition, we will engage with government authorities and chambers of commerce from different provinces and municipalities in the Mainland to discuss collaboration on overseas expansion, amplifying cross-regional synergy.
In the past three years, InvestHK has assisted a total of over 1 400 enterprises to establish or expand businesses in Hong Kong. These enterprises are expected to bring in direct investment of around $200 billion and create over 21 000 jobs in total in the first year of their establishment or expansion. InvestHK is proactively working towards the new performance indicator set out in the 2025 Policy Address to attract at least a total of 1 200 enterprises, including Mainland enterprises planning to go global through Hong Kong, to set up or expand businesses in Hong Kong within two years’ time between 2026 and 2027.
To meet the new performance indicator and attract more high value-added industries and enterprises to set up in Hong Kong while promoting the development of the Northern Metropolis, the Financial Secretary has established the Steering Committee on Preferential Policies for Attracting Industries and Investment (Steering Committee). The Steering Committee formulates preferential policy packages to promote industry development and investment, covering land grants, land premiums, financial subsidies, and tax incentives, etc. Currently, the Steering Committee has formulated a preliminary framework of the preferential policy packages, with details to be tailored based on industry, technology level, economic contributions, and employment opportunities of individual enterprises.
InvestHK will negotiate with enterprises on settlement details using the preferential policy packages. It will also act as the “relationship manager” to provide enterprises with customised services to ensure that they can smoothly establish a presence in Hong Kong, including in the Northern Metropolis. InvestHK and relevant members of the Steering Committee are proactively taking forward the work related to the preferential policy packages. When cases become mature, the Government will announce them in due course.
Looking ahead, we will expedite the aforementioned investment promotion work. We will also step up the co-ordination of the trio of overseas Economic and Trade Offices, InvestHK and the HKTDC under the CEDB through the Economic and Trade Express platform, thereby enhancing synergy in supporting enterprises to explore new overseas markets through Hong Kong.