Commerce and Industry 107
informed investment decisions on setting up regional headquarters and regional offices in Hong Kong.
During the year, Invest Hong Kong assisted a record 253 foreign, Mainland and Taiwan companies to set up or expand operations in Hong Kong. The total amount of investment involved exceeded $8.3 billion. A total of 3 130 new jobs were created in 2007 while these companies expect to create an additional 5 004 jobs in the next two years.
Investment promotion activities included sponsoring and participating in major international conferences or business events to raise Hong Kong's profile among key target markets and to identify new prospective investors in Hong Kong. In 2007, these included Forbes Fabulous 50 Awards Dinner, Asia Pacific Capital Markets Congress, Pan-Pearl River Delta Economic and Trade Cooperation Fair, Air Freight Asia, Hedge Funds World Asia, the Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (CASBAA) Annual Convention, and the Mobility World Congress.
In 2007, Invest Hong Kong organised 12 joint investment promotion activities with major Mainland provinces and cities, including Fujian, Shenzhen, Huizhou, Dongguan, Zhaoqing, Foshan and, Jiangmen. These promotions targeted prospective investors in Washington, DC, Melbourne, Brisbane, Dallas, Toronto, Amsterdam, Osaka, Tokyo, Santa Clara, Phoenix, Seoul and Incheon. All of these seminars were well received.
Invest Hong Kong continued to draw the attention of Mainland enterprises to Hong Kong's unique advantages as a springboard to expand overseas. During the year, it arranged 28 seminars in 20 Mainland cities. In June 2007, Invest Hong Kong launched a three-year major nationwide marketing campaign, called 'On Your Marks, Get-set, Go!', which focuses on seven key provinces — Zhejiang, Shandong, Fujian, Sichuan, Jiangsu, Liaoning and Guangdong and aims to provide privately-owned enterprises (POEs) with the information and tools to expand internationally using Hong Kong as their gateway. The first seminar of the campaign was held in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province in August 2007, and three workshops were held in Yiwu in September and Wenzhou and Ningbo in October respectively.
In March 2007, 'Invest Hong Kong Day' events were held to mark the establishment of Invest Hong Kong Service Centres in Shanghai and Chengdu ETOS respectively.
Customs and Excise Department
The Customs and Excise Department enforces various trade controls systems covering those concerning the issue of certificates of origin (including those under the CEPA), the import and export of textiles strategic commodities, reserved commodities, rough diamonds and other prohibited goods, as well as compliance with the Chemical Weapons Convention, to prevent and detect abuses of these systems. The department is also tasked with collecting import and export declarations, declaration charges and clothing levies, and to enforce the relevant statutory controls on these systems.