LCQ22: Assisting small and medium enterprises in joining forces to go global
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Question:
In recent years, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government has vigorously promoted Hong Kong as a hub to assist Mainland enterprises in joining forces to go global and expand into overseas markets such as the Belt and Road and the Global South. There are views that many local small and medium enterprises (SMEs) also wish to expand their businesses overseas; yet at present, the enterprises which have successfully gone global are mostly medium and large Mainland enterprises and leading innovation and technology enterprises, while in Hong Kong only large professional services enterprises in sectors such as financial services, legal services and accounting are able to participate therein. Due to the lack of dedicated interfacing channels, relatively high thresholds of the industry chains, restricted flow of information and the absence of a breakdown of business opportunities into micro-segments, the vast majority of local SMEs have difficulties in integrating into the "going global" industry and service chains, and are unable to benefit from the policy dividends. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it will request relevant organisations such as the Hong Kong Trade Development Council to compile market information specifically tailored for the SMEs going global and formulate strategies for the SMEs to go global, so as to assist the SMEs in grasping the opportunities to join forces to go global;
(2) whether it will, in view of the fact that local SMEs are small in scale, short of resources and weak in international networks, establish a dedicated "SME service matching" mechanism, and through measures such as segmenting the "going global" industry chains, opening up niche business opportunities, simplifying the thresholds for participation, providing one-to-one matching and offering quotas for participation in government trade delegations, enable local SMEs across various industries to integrate into the "going global" ecosystem of Mainland enterprises in a more down-to-earth manner and at lower thresholds; and
(3) whether it will enhance the existing Dedicated Fund on Branding, Upgrading and Domestic Sales by setting up a dedicated programme to subsidise the SMEs' participation in joining forces to go global, covering expenses on market visits, business matching, product certification, brand promotion and participation in exhibitions, so as to assist local SMEs in grasping the business opportunities of going global?
Reply:
President,
The Government is committed to assisting companies of various sizes in Hong Kong to expand overseas, including local and Mainland multinational corporations, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and startups. In doing so, we will develop go global services in Hong Kong into new drivers for economic growth, while fostering the robust development of Hong Kong professional and commercial services (including relevant SMEs), bringing unlimited business opportunities to the city.
Our reply to the question raised by the Hon Jonathan Stuart Lamport is provided below:
(1) and (3) To support local SMEs in developing businesses overseas, the Dedicated Fund on Branding, Upgrading and Domestic Sales (BUD Fund) has been providing funding support to the trade since its commencement in 2012 by encouraging non-listed Hong Kong enterprises to develop more diversified markets and to enhance competitiveness through branding, upgrading and restructuring, and promoting sales. Since 2018, the Government has launched several rounds of enhancements under the BUD Fund, including injections of a total of $9.38 billion. As at end-May 2026, more than 13 000 applications have been approved under the BUD Fund, demonstrating the trade's strong demand for the BUD Fund. The funding scope of the BUD Fund is broad and covers a wide array of measures to assist enterprises in developing markets and businesses, including participation in exhibitions in economies covered by the geographical scope of the BUD Fund, placement of advertisements, application for trademarks and conduct of testing or certification, as well as production or enhancement of company websites. Moreover, the Government has further enhanced the BUD Fund on June 15, 2026, to increase the funding ceiling per "Easy BUD" application to $150,000 and to expand the geographical scope of the BUD Fund to cover a total of 48 economies (Note), including Belt and Road countries, with a view to assisting local SMEs to harness the business opportunities of going global.
Regarding dissemination of market information, the Support and Consultation Centre for SMEs under the Trade and Industry Department, the SME Centre under the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC), the SME One under the Hong Kong Productivity Council and the TecONE under the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTPC) will continue to provide "four-in-one" integrated services and co-organise "four-in-one" seminar series, such as organising seminars on topics like exploration of emerging markets for the SMEs, to equip them to address relevant business development needs. In light of the SMEs' general lack of overseas networks and resources to conduct in-depth research on overseas investment strategies, the HKTDC conducts economic and trade research on different regions from time to time, covering information on the business environment, policies and regulations, latest industry opportunities, economic data, and relevant practical resource links of various overseas markets. The relevant research reports are published on the HKTDC's Research portal (research.hktdc.com) for the SMEs' reference, enabling them to better grasp go global opportunities and formulate corresponding strategies. The HKTDC will continue to strengthen its economic and trade research efforts to better support enterprises in developing their overseas businesses.
In addition, the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau has set up the functional platform of Economic and Trade Express (ETE) to strengthen trio-coordination among overseas Economic and Trade Offices (ETOs), Invest Hong Kong and the HKTDC in supporting local SMEs and start-ups by proactively organising overseas business missions, assisting Hong Kong enterprises in exploring business opportunities in overseas markets, while assisting more enterprises to invest and establish operations in Hong Kong. Since the first quarter of 2026, we have organised outbound business missions for local SMEs and start-ups through the ETE. These include a mission of 60 tech companies led by the HKSTPC in collaboration with the HKTDC to participate in the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, United States, along with events under the ETE in January 2026, to facilitate exchanges and networking between Hong Kong start-ups and local companies; and a business mission organised by the HKTDC in March 2026 and comprised 18 Hong Kong service enterprises from sectors such as construction, engineering, smart city development, etc, to Bangkok, Thailand, where participants took part in the "GreenBiz HK" promotional activities organised by the ETE. We will take into account enterprises' needs and interests, as well as other relevant factors such as target markets and appropriate timing for the missions, to continue planning overseas missions to assist Hong Kong enterprises in expanding their business abroad.
On export credit insurance, to support the SMEs in expanding new businesses, the Hong Kong Export Credit Insurance Corporation will launch the "SME Protect Plus" pilot scheme in July to provide protection for the SMEs exporting to higher-risk buyers.
(2) The HKTDC officially launched the cross-sectoral professional services platform GoGlobal Connect in April this year, bringing together eight groups of Hong Kong professional service providers, including financial services; legal services; accounting, tax and business advisory services; design, marketing and brand management services; logistics and transportation services; telecommunications and information technology services; infrastructure and real estate-related services; as well as testing and certification services, thereby precisely matching the service needs of go global Mainland enterprises and providing them with professional consultation services. At present, the platform comprises more than 200 Hong Kong professional service providers, including not only large corporations, but also small and medium-sized professional service providers, offering more diversified and tailored services for enterprises seeking to go global.
The Chief Executive led a delegation comprising high-level business representatives from the Mainland and Hong Kong to visit Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan in June this year, yielding fruitful results and reaching 96 co-operations, with over US$1.65 billion involved. The Belt and Road Office will invite relevant organisations to bring their signature projects to Hong Kong for roadshows, making project information more accessible to Hong Kong enterprises (including SMEs), and tapping opportunities for them to participate in the projects.
The Government will continue to assist local and Mainland enterprises in going global and to enhance relevant measures in order to meet the needs of enterprises of different types and scales. We will proactively consider the various suggestions proposed by the Hon Lamport.
Note: The 48 economies include the Mainland, 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations member states (comprising Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam), Australia, Chile, the four member states of the European Free Trade Association (i.e. Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland), Georgia, Macao, New Zealand, Japan, Korea, Austria, the Belgo-Luxembourg Economic Union, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Türkiye, Bahrain, Peru, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Egypt, Hungary, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Brazil.
Ends/Wednesday, June 17, 2026
Issued at HKT 14:30
Issued at HKT 14:30
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