Invest Hong Kong Scores Fruitful Work in First YearInvest Hong Kong (InvestHK), a government department set up last July, has scored fruitful work in spearheading Hong Kong's efforts to attract inward investment.Mike Rowse, director-general of investment promotion of Hong Kong, said InvestHK assisted foreign companies to complete 85 investment projects in Hong Kong since its establishment on July 1, 2000. The total amount of investment generated surpassed 2 billion HK dollars (256 million U.S. dollars) and over 1,000 new jobs were created, he added. Rowse said the past year was busy times for InvestHK, which was restructured on a sector specific basis with additional investment promotion experts recruited from the private sector. He also referred to two other indicators of Hong Kong's attrativeness to do business, namely the number of foreign owned regional headquarters (RHQs) and regional offices (ROs), and the flows of foreign direct investment (FDI). As at June 1, 2000, the government's annual survey found 3,001 foreign-owned RHQs and ROs in Hong Kong. In the period from June 1, 2000 to May 31 this year, some 74 new foreign owned RHQs were set up in the city. Hong Kong's FDI in 1999 totaled 23 billion U.S. dollars, and the amount reached 64.4 billion U.S. dollars in 2000, Rowse said. He said InvestHK took an active part in two worldwide events to project Hong Kong's strengths as an international financial and business center -- the Fortune Global Forum and the "Spirit of Hong Kong" Yacht Race. Rowse pledged that InvestHK will continue to promote inward investment through a variety of initiatives aimed to raise its profile, build up its brand name and become known to the international business community in Hong Kong and beyond. |
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