The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government has further consolidated its promotion work aimed at attracting enterprises and investments.

Invest Hong Kong (InvestHK), the agency tasked with the responsibility for promoting inward direct investment to the SAR, has helped 223 Chinese-mainland and overseas enterprises set up shop in Hong Kong from January to April this year, acting secretary for commerce and economic development Bernard Chan Pak-li said at the Legislative Council (LegCo) meeting on Wednesday.

The figure represented a year-on-year increase of 13 percent. These new enterprises are expected to bring in direct investment of over HK$22.3 billion ($2.86 billion) and create over 4,900 jobs within their first year of operations or expansion.

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Over one-fourth of these enterprises indicated the intention of establishing their respective international or regional headquarters in Hong Kong. In terms of origin, those enterprises mainly come from the mainland, the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, and Singapore. These new enterprises are a family office, or belong to the financial services and fintech sector, innovation and technology sector, tourism and hospitality sector, and the consumer products sector.

Separately, the Office for Attracting Strategic Enterprises (OASES), set up by the current-term SAR government for luring high-potential and representative strategic innovation and technology enterprises from around the globe, so far successfully attracted 84 strategic enterprises, many of which plan to establish their international or regional headquarters in Hong Kong.

The Talent Engage, established in October 2023 for attracting mainland and overseas professionals, has received over 45,000 new applications under various talent admission schemes from January to April, of which over 35,000 applications were approved.

The Talent Engage will continue to provide themed seminars, job fairs, support matching services, integration activities and Cantonese classes for incoming professionals and their families to help them settle down in Hong Kong.

“InvestHK and OASES provide mainland and overseas enterprises with one-stop customized support services, including introducing tax regime and tax concessions of Hong Kong, assisting enterprises in identifying premises for operations, and assisting them in following up on matters relating to talent admission,” Chan said.

READ MORE: InvestHK: 41% y-o-y increase in firms setting up shop in HK in 2024

InvestHK said the agency facilitated 539 mainland and overseas enterprises to establish and expand their businesses in Hong Kong last year, representing an increase of over 40 percent from the previous year. Last year, the number of companies in Hong Kong with the parent company originated from the mainland or overseas countries reached a record high of 9,960. These companies included 1,410 regional headquarters that represented a jump of over 5 percent year-on-year.