ENG-2012 — Page 120

Commerce and Industry

Chart 3

Position of Inward Direct Investment in Hong Kong at Market Value by Major Economic Activity

of Hong Kong Enterprise Groups at the end of 2011

Insurance

2.5% ($210.7 billion)

Financing (except banking,

investment and holding companies)

3.5% ($294.3 billion)

Import/export, wholesale

and retail trades

9.5% ($799 billion)

Banking

11.3% ($950 billion)

Other activities 6.2% ($522.4 billion)

Investment and holding, real estate, professional and business services 66.9% ($5,600.7 billion)

As at June 2012, Hong Kong was host to 7,250 overseas, Mainland and Taiwan companies representing parent companies located outside Hong Kong, including 3,883 regional headquarters or regional offices.

The Institutional Framework

Commerce, Industry and Tourism Branch

The Commerce, Industry and Tourism Branch of the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau (CEDB) formulates and co-ordinates policies and strategies in relation to Hong Kong's external commercial relations, tourism, inward investment promotion, convention and exhibition services, intellectual property protection, industry and business support, trade facilitation, consumer protection, promotion of competition, postal services and meteorological services. It also oversees the development of policies and programmes for the industrial and trade sectors, including small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and the promotion of services industries. The branch is assisted by the Trade and Industry Department, Invest Hong Kong, the Customs and Excise Department, the Intellectual Property Department, the Post Office and the Hong Kong Observatory. It is also supported by the overseas Economic and Trade Offices (ETOs).

Trade and Industry Department

The Trade and Industry Department handles the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region's (HKSAR) commercial relations with its trading partners, and protects Hong Kong's trading rights and trade interests. It also promotes Hong Kong's status as a separate customs territory and a model for international free trade.

Locally, the department provides a range of services to locally based trade and industry organisations and businesses, including issuing certificates of origin, export and import licences and certificates of Hong Kong service suppliers. It also provides general support services for various sectors, in particular SMEs, and provides local enterprises with relevant trade information and advises them on changes in major trading partners' import regulations.

The department also co-ordinates discussions with the Mainland authorities on the Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA).

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