LCQ11: Attracting companies located outside Hong Kong to establish operations in Hong Kong
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Question:
According to the 2025 Annual Survey of Companies in Hong Kong with Parent Companies Located outside Hong Kong announced by the Government in January this year, the total number of companies in Hong Kong with parent companies located outside Hong Kong (the Companies) reached 11 070 in 2025, representing an annual increase of 11 per cent, while the number of people employed reached 509 000, recording an annual increase of 3 per cent. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) as the numbers of the Companies are concentrated in the three traditional pillar industries of the import/export trade, wholesale and retail sector, the financial and banking sector, and the professional, business and education service sector (accounting for approximately 83.5 per cent of the total), how will the Government encourage more companies located outside Hong Kong engaged in emerging industries (such as the innovation and technology industries) to establish operations in Hong Kong, thereby optimising Hong Kong's current industrial structure;
(2) among the Companies, those from the Chinese Mainland account for the largest proportion, followed by companies from the United States and Japan (together accounting for approximately 55.9 per cent of the total), how will the Government attract and encourage more companies located outside Hong Kong from emerging markets (particularly the Middle East and Association of Southeast Asian Nations countries) to establish operations in Hong Kong;
(3) as the number of people employed by the Companies has only increased by 3 per cent year on year, how will the Government encourage these companies to hire more local staff; and
(4) according to the World Investment Report 2025 published by the United Nations Trade and Development, Hong Kong rose to third globally in terms of foreign direct investment in 2024, of the specific measures to be implemented by the Government in the coming year to maintain Hong Kong's competitive edge?
Reply:
President,
The current-term Government is committed to attracting investment and attracting companies outside Hong Kong to establish a presence in Hong Kong. According to the latest "Report on Annual Survey of Companies in Hong Kong with Parent Companies Located outside Hong Kong" conducted by Invest Hong Kong (InvestHK) and the Census and Statistics Department, there were a record high of 11 070 Hong Kong-based companies from the Chinese Mainland and overseas in 2025, representing a year-on-year increase of 11 per cent. The number of people employed reached 509 000, representing a year-on-year increase of 3 per cent. The results of the surveys fully display international business community's confidence in the business environment of Hong Kong.
In response to the Hon Jonathan Stuart Lamport's question, my reply is as follows:
(1) As an investment promotion agency of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, InvestHK has been proactively attracting and assisting overseas and Chinese Mainland enterprises to set up or expand their businesses in Hong Kong. In 2025, InvestHK assisted 560 overseas and Chinese Mainland enterprises in setting up or expanding their businesses in Hong Kong, setting a new record high and representing a year-on-year increase of over 4 per cent. The top five sectors of these enterprises are financial services and fintech (117 companies), innovation and technology (115 companies), family offices (80 companies), tourism and hospitality (65 companies), and consumer products (54 companies). It is expected that these enterprises will create more than 10 700 jobs and bring in direct investment of around $69.4 billion in total within the first year of their establishment or expansion. This demonstrates that, in addition to traditional sectors, InvestHK has successfully attracted many enterprises from emerging sectors such as fintech, innovation and technology, and family offices to Hong Kong in recent years.
(2) InvestHK has been leveraging its global investment network, including 17 Dedicated Teams for Attracting Businesses And Talents (Dedicated Teams) in the Mainland Offices and overseas Hong Kong Economic and Trade Offices (ETOs), as well as 17 overseas consultant offices, to proactively explore different emerging markets for attracting businesses and investments. Specifically, to expand the markets of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Middle East, InvestHK has established Dedicated Teams under four ETOs in Jakarta, Bangkok, Singapore and Dubai respectively. A Dedicated Team under the Kuala Lumpur ETO newly established last December is also expected to be set up in the first half of this year to further deepen co-operation in the ASEAN region. In addition, InvestHK set up consultant offices in Cairo, capital of Egypt and Izmir, Türkiye's third-largest city in 2024-25, with a view to attracting capital and enterprises from high-potential emerging countries in the Middle East and North Africa. These are the third and fourth consultant offices set up by the current-term Government since taking office, following those in Nairobi, Kenya, and Almaty, Kazakhstan. Other consultant offices in emerging markets include Istanbul, Türkiye; Lima, Peru; Santiago, Chile; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Mexico City, Mexico; and Mumbai, India. Through the aforesaid global investment network, InvestHK visits various emerging markets (such as ASEAN, Africa, Central Asia, Eastern Europe, South Asia and South America) to meet with different enterprises and investment institutions, and to organise and sponsor a series of investment promotional activities to attract local businesses to Hong Kong.
(3) In addition to proactively attracting new enterprises to Hong Kong, InvestHK also places great importance on providing aftercare support services to enterprises assisted by the department and other non-local enterprises (such as assisting in their expansion of new business types, upgrading their Hong Kong offices to function as regional headquarters, setting up physical offices or stores, listing or establishing corporate treasury centres, expanding their overseas business bases, etc.). InvestHK also assists the enterprises to explore and evaluate new growth areas and opportunities ahead and supports them to expand their operations in Hong Kong, thereby creating more local job opportunities.
(4) According to the World Investment Report 2025 published by the United Nations Trade and Development, Hong Kong rose to third place globally in terms of foreign direct investment inflows in 2024, confirming Hong Kong's status as a world-renowned international business and investment hub. The 2025 Policy Address announced several policy initiatives to further strengthen the investment promotion work, including strengthening the support for Chinese Mainland enterprises to go global through Hong Kong. The Commerce and Economic Development Bureau has set up a cross-bureau, cross-departmental and cross-agency Task Force on Supporting Mainland Enterprises in Going Global (GoGlobal Task Force) by mobilising Hong Kong offices abroad, including those under InvestHK and the Hong Kong Trade and Development Council as well as the Hong Kong offices on the Chinese Mainland. It also coordinates various bureaux, departments and agencies to proactively encourage Chinese Mainland enterprises to go global via Hong Kong and provide them with customised and comprehensive support services based on their needs. The GoGlobal Task Force will focus on attracting key or strategically valuable Chinese Mainland enterprises to set up businesses in Hong Kong. We will also follow the strategies outlined in Part (2) above to attract and encourage more overseas companies from emerging markets to expand their businesses to Hong Kong and explore the vast Chinese Mainland market, fully leveraging our role as a two-way platform between China and the world.
In addition, the Financial Secretary leads the relevant policy bureaux, departments, and public organisations in formulating packages of preferential policies including land grants, land premiums, financial subsidies, and tax incentives. InvestHK provides support for the relevant policies and will proactively use the preferential policy packages to attract high value-added industries and high-potential enterprises to set up in Hong Kong, thereby promoting high-quality development and bringing economic contributions and employment opportunities to Hong Kong.
Looking ahead, we will step up our efforts to attract direct investment from emerging markets and support Chinese Mainland enterprises to go global via Hong Kong, while consolidating our investment promotion efforts in traditional markets, thereby attracting more non-local companies to set up in Hong Kong.
Ends/Wednesday, March 18, 2026
Issued at HKT 12:05
Issued at HKT 12:05
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