Hong Kong is a dynamic business, financial, trading and logistics hub, as well as a leading design and innovation centre. As one of the freest economies in the world renowned for the ease of doing business, Hong Kong is home to about 9,000 overseas and Mainland companies. Among them, more than 1,400 operate as regional headquarters, in addition to about 2,400 regional offices and about 5,200 local offices.

Hong Kong’s advantages and future growth opportunities

Hong Kong’s financial system is strong and robust. The Fraser Institute once again ranked Hong Kong as the freest economy in the world in its Economic Freedom of the World: 2022 Annual Report. Hong Kong has topped the ranking since the launch of the report. As of November 2022, the total market capitalisation of the 2,582 companies listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange was approximately HK$33,317.8bn, making Hong Kong the seventh-largest stock market in the world and the fourth-largest in Asia. Hong Kong’s insurance industry has over US$4.5trn of assets under management, ranking first in Asia and second in the world. Hong Kong topped the global IPO fundraising list seven times and became the world’s largest international bond issuance centre in Asia for six consecutive years.

Hong Kong has strong capabilities in developing innovation and technology. In the Smart Centres Index released by British financial think tank Z/Yen in November 2022, Hong Kong was ranked the world’s number five and Asia-Pacific region’s number one hub for the development of new technology. In the Global Innovation Index 2022, Hong Kong was ranked 14th in terms of innovation capabilities and second in the world in terms of market maturity. Hong Kong is the only city in Asia with five of the world’s top 100 universities, two of which even ranked in the top 10 in Asia. Hong Kong has 16 State Key Laboratories and six Hong Kong Branches of Chinese National Engineering Research Centres. Hong Kong is also the number one biotech fundraising centre in Asia and the second-largest in the world.

Reputable for its status as an international financial centre that enjoys the dual advantages of “One Country, Two Systems”, Hong Kong is an ideal platform to seize the opportunities arising from the Belt and Road Initiative and Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area. The National 14th Five-Year Plan not only supports the sustainable development of Hong Kong’s four traditional centres, namely the international financial centre, international transportation centre, international trade centre and a centre for international legal and dispute resolution services in the Asia-Pacific region, but also for the first time raises support for Hong Kong to enhance, establish and develop four emerging centres, namely the international aviation hub, international innovation and technology centre, regional intellectual property trading hub and a hub for arts and cultural exchanges between China and the rest of the world.

Close commercial relations between Hong Kong and the Central China Region

Hong Kong has close economic and trade ties with the five Central China provinces (Hubei, Hunan, Shanxi, Jiangxi and Henan) and continues to be the primary source of foreign investment in these five provinces. Hong Kong enterprises invest in a wide range of sectors in the region, in particular manufacturing, services, real estate development, business services and computer communications. In 2021, in many of the provinces in the Central China region, the proportion of contracts utilising Hong Kong capital exceeded 70 per cent of the provincial aggregate of contracts utilising foreign capital, while the actual utilisation of Hong Kong capital accounted for more than 50 per cent of the provincial aggregate of actual utilisation of foreign capital. The total import and export volume between Hong Kong and the region also continued to grow steadily.

On 29 November 2021, Hong Kong and Hubei established the Hong Kong/Hubei Co-operation Mechanism, which is the first high-level government co-operation mechanism established by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) with a Central region province of the Mainland. The mechanism covers 13 co-operation areas and 52 co-operation items, bringing more new opportunities for exchanges and co-operation to both places in the fields of innovation and technology, finance, civil aviation and logistics, trade and investment, cultural exchange, youth development and so on.

Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Wuhan
The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China (WHETO)

WHETO commenced operation on 1 April 2014, which is the fifth office of the HKSAR Government in the Mainland. Its main functions include further enhancing the HKSAR Government’s liaison and communication with the five provinces of Hubei, Hunan, Shanxi, Jiangxi and Henan; facilitating exchange and co-operation in economic and trade as well as other aspects between Hong Kong and the relevant provinces; supporting Hong Kong residents and businessmen in the relevant provinces; promoting Hong Kong to residents of the Mainland; and providing practical assistance to Hong Kong residents in distress in the five Central China provinces. WHETO set up the Immigration Division in November 2017 to provide emergency assistance and HKSAR travel document application and replacement services for Hong Kong residents in the five Central China provinces.

Contact details

Address: Unit 4303, Tower I, New World International Trade Tower 568 Jianshe Avenue, Jianghan District, Wuhan, Hubei Province, China Tel: (86 27) 6560 7300 Email: enquiry@wheto.gov.hk Website: www.wheto.gov.hk/en

WeChat ID:HKWHETO