Hong Kong is blessed with an invaluable natural resource: its geographical location. Flanking the mouth of the Pearl River Delta (PRD), Hong Kong is perfectly situated for trade with Mainland China; the whole country is our natural hinterland.

For more than a century and a half, Hong Kong has served as the gateway to Mainland China. There is nowhere better than Hong Kong to obtain the expertise, information and facilities needed to tap into the immense Mainland Chinese market.

China's entry to the World Trade Organisation and development of increasingly competitive industries has set the stage for even greater economic expansion.

The Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) , which took effect at the beginning of 2004, provides Hong Kong with additional and exclusive Mainland market access benefits.

The marriage of Hong Kong's world class financial, marketing and technical expertise and sophisticated infrastructure with the mainland's rapidly developing manufacturing and services base has created a win-win situation. Mainland China is now Hong Kong's largest trading partner. Thousands of international companies involved in China trade have chosen to establish their beachhead in Hong Kong.