CzechInvest Sets Out Its Stall In Hong Kong

by Mary Swire, Tax-News.com, Hong Kong

26 February 2002

The Czech Republic's foreign-investment agency CzechInvest has chosen Hong Kong for its second regional office in Asia. Its first regional operation was established in Yokohama, Japan, in 1996 and has won US$1.5 billion in foreign investments to the Czech Republic over the past two years.

CzechInvest chief executive Martin Jahn said Hong Kong could help the investment promotion agency to capture investors, and expects CzechInvest's operation in Hong Kong to attract US$500 million to US$1 billion of foreign investment. ''Hong Kong is a good transportation hub and it's a good location to visit different countries in Southeast Asia. Besides, a lot of business operations are coming to Hong Kong,'' he said, adding: ''Attracting investment is a long-term project. We have to develop contacts and make sure everybody knows about us. We hope we can start bringing in investments in two to three years.''

The agency even hopes eventually to lure investment from China. ''China can be a potential investor for the Czech Republic in the future. At this stage, it is a host of investment instead of an investor, but it has the potential to expand business to Europe through investment.''

Mr Jahn said CzechInvest would co-operate closely with InvestHK, the Hong Kong investment promotion agency, instead of competing with it: ''We would like to co-operate. We are not stealing investment from here ... we are not competitors. Some Asian companies may need to go to Europe.''

Mr Jahn said he saw Hong Kong as a good place for finding opportunities but did not expect a lot of investors coming from Hong Kong as it was not a manufacturing-oriented city. Instead, he is expecting investors from Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore and Malaysia to establish manufacturing plants or high-technology research and development (R&D) facilities in the Czech Republic.

Many companies which sold hi-tech products in Europe already had established assembly facilities in the country, he said. ''There are already a lot of IT assembly facilities in the Czech Republic and it's time for the companies to move their manufacturing and R&D there. It's good for the companies to move near to the market, Europe,'' he said.

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