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Socio-economic
Systems - Part 1
Commerce and Industry
- Hong
Kong's participation in the World Trade Organization
Hong Kong is firmly committed to free and open trade.
Hong Kong became a separate contracting party to the General Agreement on
Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1986, and is a founding member of the World
Trade Organization (WTO) established in 1995. Hong Kong is a Member of the
WTO in its own right. After the reunification, the HKSARG continues to
participate actively in the WTO as a full and separate member to secure
maximum market access for Hong Kong's exports of goods and service to
international markets.
Hong Kong has been in the forefront of multilateral
trade liberalization efforts since the GATT days. Through the Trade and
Industry Department and the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Geneva,
Hong Kong participates actively in various WTO committees/discussions to
monitor and evaluate the effective operation of the WTO, and the faithful
implementation of commitments by other WTO members. For example, Hong Kong
played an active role in the WTO negotiations on basic telecommunications
and financial services, the successful conclusion of which marked an
important step towards the liberalization of these sectors for local
service providers.
To further demonstrate our commitment to the
WTO, the Sixth WTO Ministerial Conference (MC6) was successfully held in
Hong Kong from 13 to 18 December 2005. It was also known as the Hong Kong
Ministerial Conference. Ministers adopted the Hong Kong Ministerial
Declaration (HKMD), which sets out a series of agreements in the major
areas of negotiations, and a timetable for the next and final phase of the
multilateral trade negotiations under the Doha Development Agenda (DDA).
MC6's achievements demonstrate convincingly to the world that the WTO is
capable of delivering results, and in improving the lives of people in
developing and least-developed countries.
More:
- Investment Promotion and
Protection Agreements
The
Hong Kong SAR Government recognizes the importance of inward investment in
sustaining Hong Kong's economic growth and in fostering its development as
an international center for manufacturing, trading and business services.
To give additional assurance to overseas investors that their investments
in the territory are adequately protected, and to enable Hong Kong
businesses to enjoy similar protection in respect of their investments
overseas, Hong Kong has been negotiating and concluding its own Investment
Promotion and Protection Agreements (IPPAs). The main features of an IPPA
provide for fair treatment for foreign investors, compensation if their
investments are expropriated and free transfer of investments and returns.
Hong Kong has signed IPPAs with economies such as Australia, France,
Germany, Japan, Korea, the UK etc.
- Promotion of
Innovation and Technology
Innovation
and technology are important economic drivers underpinning Hong Kong's
future economic development. The Government is totally committed to
promoting innovation and technology. As part of the Government's efforts in
strengthening its institutional framework to promote innovation and
technology, the Innovation and Technology Commission (ITC) has been
set up within the Commerce, Industry and Technology Bureau.
Currently,
the ITC operates the following funding schemes to assist Hong Kong
companies to develop innovative ideas and technology businesses:
- The Innovation and
Technology Fund (ITF); and
- The Applied Research
Fund (ARF).
More...
One
of ITC's key commitments is to make available and to enhance Hong Kong's
technological infrastructure to facilitate development of innovation and
technology activities. To this end, the ITC is working closely with :
- The Hong Kong Science and
Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTPC) to facilitate application, research and
development, and transfer of technologies in industry in Hong Kong.
- The Hong Kong
Productivity Council (HKPC) to fulfill its mission in promoting
productivity excellence; and
- The Hong Kong Applied
Science and Technology Research Institute Company Limited to take
forward the planning and development work of the Applied Science and
Technology Research Institute.
Design
is an integral part of Hong Kong's innovative capacity. The Government has
been promoting deign as a value adding activity for integration into the
mainstream business processes. To strengthen Government's support for
design and innovation, and promote the wider use of deign and innovation in
industries to help them move up the value chain, the Government launched a
HKD250 million "DesignSmart" Initiative in June 2004, which
include the following major components:
o
To
work with HKSTPC and HKPC to set up an "InnoCentre" as a one-stop
shop for design to provide
·
Incubation
services for design ventures
·
Rental
space at commercial rates for design-related companies
·
Professional education and
training, internship, exhibition and seminars in design
·
Networking
among design professionals and user industries.
More about
InnoCentre
o
To
run the Design Support Programme (DSP), which comprises four funding
schemes aiming at supporting design and branding-related research,
promoting design/business collaborations, developing continuing education
for design professionals as well as fostering a culture of design.
More
about Design Support Programme (DSP)
Inaugurated
on May 2001, the Hong Kong Science
Park & Technology Parks Corporation is established to bring
the world-class technology and the most highly skilled workforce together
in a purpose built environment so as to create cooperative, clustering and
synergy effects. The Parks are designed to accommodate companies of all
sizes and stages of development and to promote interaction and innovation
on both local and global basis.
More
information on the work of ITC.
- Participation of the Hong
Kong Special Administrative Region in Regional Economic Cooperation
Fora
As
part of the efforts to promote Hong Kong as an international center of
trade, commerce, finance and communications, the Hong Kong SAR has been
taking an active part in international and regional economic and trade
fora. The Basic Law guarantees full autonomy of the HKSAR in the conduct of
its external commercial relations and provides for the HKSAR's
participation in these international organizations beyond 1997. Being the
world's 11th largest trading entity and the 5th largest in the Asia-Pacific
region in 2004, the HKSAR stands ready to contribute to, and benefit from
regional economic cooperation. The HKSAR is a member of the Asia-Pacific
Economic Cooperation (APEC) and Pacific Economic Cooperation Council
(PECC), and an associate member of the United Nation Economic and Social
Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP).
More...
More on UNESCAP
- Helping
Business Programme
The
Helping Business Programme aims to secure a friendly environment that
enables the business sector to develop and exploit opportunities by :
- Cutting red tape and
nurturing a helping business culture within the Government;
- Eliminating
over-regulation and fostering better regulations to reduce the cost
of compliance to the business sector and the community at large;
- Transferring services
out of the public sector to the private sector where appropriate
market conditions prevail; and
- Improving existing
services and introducing new services in support of the business
sector.
Since
its launch in 1996, the Programme has completed some 92 projects and
implemented 300 initiatives to help business. The Business and Services
Promotion Unit of the Commerce and Industry Bureau is responsible for
co-ordinating the implementation of the Programme. Below are some examples
of completed significant projects:
- Establishing a Business
Licence Information Centre
- Making public forms
available on the Internet and electronic submission of the forms
- Introducing an open bond
system
- Same-day issue of
provisional licences for restaurants
- Review of entertainment
licensing
- Electronic retrieval of
approved building plans
- Relaxing the restriction
on sales of service apartments
More...
- Regional
Headquarters and Offices in Hong Kong
A
total of 3,798 overseas companies have established their regional
operations in Hong Kong as at 1 June 2005. For this group of
international-minded companies, they have chosen Hong Kong for good
reasons:
- Hong Kong has been
ranked by the Heritage Foundation as the world's freest economy for
the 11th consecutive years among more than 160 economies.
- The "Economic
Freedom of the World: 2005 Annual Report" jointly released by
the Fraser Institute if Canada and the Cato Institute if the US
compared the level if economic freedom in 127 economies. Apart from
the overall top ranking, Hong Kong also ranks first in "freedom
to trade internationally" and "regulation of credit, labour
and business" and second in "size of government".
The
top 5 important factors attracting companies to establish their RHQs or
Regional Offices in Hong Kong are:
- Relatively Low and very
simple tax system
- Free flow of information
- Corruption-free
government
- Absence of exchange
controls
- Communication, transport
and other infrastructure
Invest Hong Kong is the Government department dedicated to promoting
FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) into Hong Kong. It provide investors with
services to enable them to make informed investment decisions in HK with
the focus on certain key sectors, and to set up RHQs and ROs in the
territory.
More...
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