HK and Guangdong to raise awareness of intellectual property

On July 12, 2007, it was revealed that that Hong Kong and Guangdong have decided to cooperate as regards raising public awareness of intellectual property (IP). To achieve this, seminars will be staged in order to show the use of copyright as a tool for wealth creation to enterprises.

The Guangdong/Hong Kong Expert Group on the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights’ 6th meeting was held in Guangzhou. Both regions reviewed the latest intellectual property developments to acknowledge many successfully completed co-operation items.

The sides also discussed projects for the 2nd half of 2007 that included strengthening the staff-exchange programme for intellectual-property professionals of Hong Kong and Guangdong organising the Guangdong/Hong Kong Seminar on Intellectual Property and the Development of Small & Medium Enterprises in Guangdong.

According to Stephen Selby, Hong Kong’s Director of Intellectual Property, “in the age of knowledge economy, enterprises on the Mainland and in Hong Kong are increasingly aware of the importance of IP protection and management” and therefore it is planned to co-organise IP management seminars in order to educate enterprises on IP matters.

Guangdong Provincial Intellectual Property Office Director General Li Zhongduo said that the meeting was successful in building up co-operation, which is to be increased in both depth and breadth.

Filed under: Hong Kong and China

Chinese Government to facilitate Economic Development of Hong Kong

According to China’s President Hu Jintao, the central government of China is to implement policies aimed at facilitating Hong Kong’s economic development and improving co-operation mechanisms with Hong Kong.

President Hu stated that Hong Kong’s sustained and steady economic growth is ensured as long as Hong Kong’s government and people co-operate as well as enhance economic co-operation with mainland China and accord with economic globalisation.

At the 3rd-term HKSAR Government inauguration ceremony, Chief Executive Donald Tsang said that a new mode of economic development had been promoted by the Government, according to which the financial sector is to be expanded and investment in infrastructure is to be increased in order to drive wage increases and create more job opportunities. Tsang also thanked the Central Government and the people of Hong Kong for their support and commented that he had always believed in Hong Kong and in the drive and diligence of its people to do their best.

Tsang said that over the past 10 years Hong Kong has overcome each and every challenge and continues to move forward. However, it is going to face more challenges as over the next 5 years it needs to transform itself.

At the ceremony, Tsang commented of the benefitsof  the concept of “one country, two systems”  derived since Hong Kong returned to China, saying that over the past decade the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China has witnessed the country’s great achievements in the economy, foreign affairs, social affairs, culture, etc.

Filed under: Hong Kong and China

HK’s Banking Status to be reinforced by Renminbi Bonds

Issuing renminbi-denominated financial bonds in Hong Kong and the opinion of Henry Tang, Hong Kong Financial Secretary, regarding it have been recently discussed.

Now, Joseph Yam, Monetary Authority Chief Executive commented on the issue of renminbi-denominated bonds in Hong Kong. According to Mr. Yam, the issue will maintain Hong Kong’s status as an international finance centre as well as aid Mainland fiscal reform.

Yam suggested that, to start with, it will be a small market, and secondary-market activity might be slow at first. However, he noted that Hong Kong’s financial system is ready to handle renminbi-denominated activities in 2 out of the 3 channels of financial intermediation, which are banking and debt. With the renminbi included alongside the HK$, the USD and the Euro, among the currencies the financial infrastructure of Hong Kong is able to handle, it will also be possible for the equity channel to follow suit, accordingly, for share listing and trading will be denominated in renminbi, if there is demand.

Monetary Authority Chief Executive said that exchange controls on the Mainland will gradually be removed and, according to him, this may happen faster than expected. He also noted that great emphasis on controllability, gradualism and keeping the initiative are required for the relaxation of capital outflow, so Hong Kong will be the best location for controlled experiments.

Filed under: Investment Environment

Record high in HK’s Securities Market

On June 18, 2007, 2 major trading milestones were marked by the Hong Kong securities market. Firstly, the Hang Seng Index closed at a record high of 21 582, which is 565 points up, and, secondly, securities market turnover hit USD 12.9 billion – which is the largest ever result.

The turnover value for H-share was HK$ 44 billion and for red-chip companies – HK$ 15 billion. Also, derivative warrants turnover was at the highest ever – HK$ 15.8 billion.

798 209 trades were concluded, which broke the previous record of 720 072 recorded on June 15. A new high of HK$ 15.7 trillion was reached by the closing market capitalisation, which broke the previous record of HK$ 15.4 trillion set also on June 15.

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing has made a notable progress in the listing of enterprises from Mainland, major state banks and insurance companies includingly. In November 2006, there were 1 159 listed companies in Hong Kong, a market capitalisation was HK$ 12.197 trillion (USD 1.57 trillion), a total of HK$ 424.8 billion equity funds were raised, and an average daily turnover was HK$ 32.8 billion. 354 of the listed companies were from the Mainland – this accounted for 48% of the market capitalisation and as much as 73% of the total equity funds raised.

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Chief Executive Paul Chow noted that Hong Kong has become the major capital formation centre in the Asian region adding that new challenges and opportunities are emerging for the territory, therefore Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing has to strengthen its performance and promote its mission to be a leading international marketplace for securities and derivatives products not only in Hong Kong and the Mainland, but also in the rest of Asia.

Under the strategic plan, 16 key initiatives were grouped under 5 key areas the following way:

• Listing (includes such initiatives as complete Growth Enterprise Market review and related market development, implementation of “statutory backing”, opening of the equity listing regime to issuers from overseas jurisdictions);
• Trading (includes improving trading rights regime, addressing barriers to Cash and Derivatives Markets trading, introducing further Mainland-related and renimbi-denominated products, exploring new product and service areas);
• Clearing (includes facilitating overseas-based clearing participants as well as improving investor participant and stock segregated accounts services);
• Corporate (includes strengthening the accountability regime within Hong Kong Exchange, reviewing its organisation structure and resources deployment, consolidating its offices and data centres as well as reviewing fee structure);
• Information technology (reviewing HKEx information technology systems to efficiently improve them).

Filed under: Investor's news

HK approves Revenue Bill 2007

Tax reform in Hong Kong and the necessity to broaden the tax base and stabilise revenue sources have already been discussed previously.

In the middle of June, the Revenue Bill 2007 has been passed by the Hong Kong Legislative Council. The Bill gave effect to stamp duty and alcoholic beverages duty reductions that were proposed in the 2007-08 Budget.

The Financial Services & the Treasury Bureau suggests that reducing the stamp-duty reduction will allow more families to own their homes, while reducing the alcoholic beverages duty will alloow to promote developing the local catering industry, tourism and wholesale and retail alcoholic beverage trade as well as it will the community in general.

According to the Financial Services & the Treasury Bureau, the Government is planning to promote the development of Hong Kong as the region’s trading, logistics and wine exhibition centre.

In May, relief measures regarding salaries tax and tax under personal assessment announced that were announced in the 2007-08 Budget were also endorsed by  the Hong Kong Legislative Council.

Filed under: Taxation

Invest Hong Kong targets China

Invest Hong Kong, the investment promotion agency of the Hong Kong government that provides investors with solutions-oriented investment promotion, facilitation and aftercare services through all stages of the investment process, has recently announced a large investment promotion campaign aimed at private owned enterprises in Mainland China.

The campaign will be focused on 7 key provinces:

• Zhejiang,
• Jiangsu,
• Liaoning,
• Guangdong,
• Shandong,
• Sichuan,
• Fujian.

The 3-year campaign intends to provide private owned enterprises with the information and tools necessary to expand internationally, using Hong Kong as a gateway.

According to Invest Hong Kong, the campaign will consist of 3 phases:

• The 1st phase covers the promotional activities aimed to raise awareness among China’s growing class of private owned enterprises of business opportunities in Hong Kong. This phase includes nationwide advertising and editorial campaign as wel as large-scale seminars highlighting opportunities in Hong Kong.
• The 2nd phase covers a series of smaller workshops in key locations aimed at providing local companies with the information and tools for developing an overseas business strategy using Hong Kong. The seminars will be focused on practical issues regarding successfully growing business and their speakers will include the representatives of the government and private sector. 
• The 3rd stage consists of a series of business visits to Hong Kong aimed to allow companies that consider setting up in Hong Kong to understand the market, find relevant industry associations and identify business partners and clients.

Currently, there are more than 2,000 Mainland companies in Hong Kong, around 268 of them use Hong Kong as their regional office or headquarters. Hong Kong is useful for Mainland companies mainly because it provides opportunities to identify international business partners, raise capital, test their products and services in a cosmopolitan environment as well as upgrade business skills.

Filed under: Investment Environment