HK, Fujian Encourage Swiss Investors

by Mary Swire, LawAndTaxNews.com, Hong Kong

13 April 2010

Invest Hong Kong and the Chinese Province of Fujian jointly organized a seminar in Zurich, Switzerland, on April 12, to encourage Swiss investors to make the best use of the favourable investment climate and prospects for business opportunities in the Pan-Pearl River Delta (PRD) region.

Entitled "Hong Kong and Fujian: Your Ideal Partnership in China," the seminar was attended by more than 130 senior business executives, and was the seventh overseas investment promotion event jointly organized by Hong Kong and Fujian Province since 2005.

In his keynote speech, Hong Kong’s Director-General of Investment Promotion, Simon Galpin, highlighted the synergy of economic cooperation in the Pan-PRD region. He said: "The Hong Kong-Pan PRD cooperation has contributed greatly to the prosperity of mainland China and the region as a whole. Many foreign investors have found it attractive to perform their service activities in Hong Kong while placing their manufacturing facilities in the Mainland."

He added that: "As the main window to access the Pan-PRD region, Hong Kong and Fujian together present a winning solution for Swiss companies, both large and small, to grasp the immense business opportunities in Mainland China. Hong Kong is a natural entry point for Swiss companies to explore the Mainland market, and a logical place from which to manage operations across the border.”

The Deputy Director-General of Fujian’s Department of Foreign Trade, Zhang Qiu, said the province “has developed three pillar industries, namely the electronics and information industry, the machine building industry and the petrol-chemical industry.” By the end of 2009, more than 43,700 foreign invested companies were approved to set up in Fujian, and the actual utilized amount of foreign capital reached over USD94bn.

The Swiss business community already plays an important role in Hong Kong's economic development. In 2009, two-way trade between Switzerland and Hong Kong totalled HKD55.9bn (USD7.2bn). Switzerland was also Hong Kong's 12th largest foreign investor in 2008, contributing HKD42.2bn.

As of December 2009, it was said that there were 11 Swiss companies in the Fujian province, with a contractual investment amount of USD26.65m. The business sectors those companies are engaged in include food processing and trade.

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