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HK Becomes World's Most Open Investment Region
With its commitment to free trade and free enterprise, Hong Kong has become one of the world's most open and transparent investment region. The comment was made by senior economists who participated in the second APEC Investment Mart, which was held in Yantai, East China's Shandong Province, from June 9 to June 15.
Investors and delegates attending the APEC forum were told that there are no special approval procedures for establishing foreign investments, nor any specific regulations governing the management of investment in Hong Kong.
"The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government is committed to maintaining a level playing field for foreign and local investors," the Associate Director-General of Investment Promotion at Invest Hong Kong Stephen Ng said in a speech entitled "Investment Opportunities in Hong Kong".
As Hong Kong is a free trade city, generally there are no regulations concerning the minimum capital requirement of a company, nor any regulations concerning the relative degree of local or overseas participation in the ownership or capital structure of the company," Ng said.
In addition, funds, either from profits or capital account, may be transferred at will. There are no foreign exchange restrictions, he said, stressing that to sustain the favorable business environment, the government's approach remains one of minimum interference and maximum support.
Statistics showed that Hong Kong's foreign direct investment in 2000 leapt to a staggering 64.4 billion U.S. dollars from a base of 23.1 billion U.S. dollars in 1999.
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development's World Investment Report that published the 1999 figures in September last year noted that China's imminent accession to the World Trade Organization was expected to significantly increase its share of foreign direct investment.
Economists here believed that as Hong Kong is the recognized gateway to China's mainland, its foreign investment figures will surely continue to increase.
Independent sources such as the Heritage Foundation and the annual Asian Intelligence Survey also believed that investors would continue to be attracted to what they have rated, the most open and freest economy in the world.
At a time many parts of the world are experiencing a downturn, China is growing fast, and investors continue to line up at China' s doorstep, the sources said.
On Asian stock markets last year, of the capital raised on exchanges outside Japan, China made up 22 billion U.S. dollars, or nearly half, of the 47 billion U.S. dollars raised in share issues, according to investment bank Credit Suisse First Boston.
And the outlook is brighter over the next two years as analysts forecasting another 13 billion U.S. dollars from three new issues, Bank of China, Baosteel and China Telecom, the bank said.
Analysts in Asian economies said that geographically Hong Kong is at the epicenter of investor action and that makes the region a haven for foreign investment.
Apart from the unrivaled expertise in doing business with the mainland, Hong Kong has long established itself as a world-class financial and services center and the undisputed regional hub for multinational companies wishing to do business in this part of the world, they believed.
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