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fifty [54] of them are California based multinationals.
Among them IBM, Exxon, Eastman Kodak, Texas Instruments,
Mobil Oil, Bausch and Lomb and many more. The American
Chamber has over 2,500 members.
You invest heavily in Hong Kong. An estimate of
US$6 billion makes you the biggest foreign investor in our
manufacturing industry amounting to 36% of the total. US
factories employ more than 36,000 Hong Kong workers [4% of
the industrial workforce] and produce 7% of our exports.
Our economy is an open one. It is based on
principles which America understands
-
a free market and
free trade. There are no barriers whether in the form of
tariffs, red-tape or institutional preference. Thus you are
the biggest supplier of goods to the Hong Kong Government,
taking 24% of contracts awarded. Our workforce understands
the requirements of modern business and modern technology.
More than this, they understand better than anyone else in
the world how to do business in China. And it is the
rebirth of the China trade which has made the Americans the
largest foreign community in Hong Kong. Your accountants,
bankers and insurers are represented in force, as are your
lawyers. The latest to put up their brass plate are
Skadden Arps who open this month.