Search China Travel News:

HONG KONG, Feb. 21 -- Invest Hong Kong and the Shanghai Municipal Government Foreign Economic Relations and Trade Commission (SMERT) announced Monday that they will organize their first-ever joint investment promotion seminar to attract Japanese investors.

The seminar, entitled "Hong Kong and Shanghai - The Two Engines for China's Economic Development," will be held in Tokyo on March 8.

The seminar is designed to identify the huge business opportunities and market potential for Japanese companies in China-particularly in the country's leading commercial regions, the Pearl River Delta and the Yangtze River Delta. The focus will be on Hong Kong and Shanghai as the hubs and bases to access these two economically dynamic zones.

"Japanese companies have been among the largest investors in both the Mainland and Hong Kong," Director-General of Investment Promotion at Invest Hong Kong, Mike Rowse, said. "Hong Kong's position as the business hub in Asia has attracted over 2,100 Japanese companies to set up their regional headquarters or offices in Hong Kong. We encourage more Japanese companies to use Hong Kong as the gateway to expand into China, particularly in the Pearl River Delta."

Chairman of Shanghai Municipal Government Foreign Economic Relations and Trade Commission, Pan Longqing, said, "Japan is one of Shanghai's largest sources of foreign investment. As at the end of 2004, Japanese companies had invested more than 10 billion US dollars - or 12 percent of the total foreign investment in our city - in over 5,000 projects - representing 14 percent of all overseas investment projects."

Pan hoped that this seminar will provide a good opportunity for Japanese companies to gain a better understanding of Shanghai and Hong Kong, and to expand their businesses in both places.