Hong Kong Commerce and Economic Bureau: Will continue to deepen international exchanges and cooperation and expand the economic and trade "circle of friends" to bring overseas companies "in".

On March 19th, Dr. Benjamin Chen, Deputy Director of the Hong Kong Commerce and Economic Development Bureau (CEDB), spoke at a Legislative Council meeting on the motion raised by legislator Wu Jiezhuang regarding the "Better Coordination with the National Strategy of Expanding High-level Opening to the Outside World." He emphasized that this year marks the beginning of the 15th Five-Year Plan for the country, which further clarifies Hong Kong's strategic position and underscores the important role it plays in leveraging its unique advantages of being backed by the motherland and connecting with the world. This has significant and far-reaching implications. In addition to actively supporting Mainland Chinese companies to go global through Hong Kong, Hong Kong will continue to deepen international cooperation and expand its economic and trade network to attract overseas companies. The government set up an Economic and Trade Office in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in December last year, and expanded the coverage of its Economic and Trade Offices in four ASEAN member countries to further deepen economic and trade relations with ASEAN and related countries. Through the newly established "One-stop Platform for Economic and Trade," overseas economic and trade offices, the Invest Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Trade Development Council will collaborate to promote Hong Kong's economic and trade activities and investment promotion overseas. Efforts will also be made to extend economic and trade networks to more markets with development potential, such as Central Asia and other countries along the Belt and Road Initiative. Dr. Chen also mentioned that Hong Kong will continue to play its role as a regional intellectual property trading center. Initiatives have been launched to facilitate intellectual property transactions and financing, such as the Intellectual Property Financing Sandbox introduced at the end of last year, and plans to launch a two-year pilot program for patent valuation support in the third quarter of this year. Legislative proposals will also be submitted later this year to incentivize capital expenditure in the purchase of intellectual property rights or their usage rights, in order to promote the development of knowledge-intensive industries. Dr. Chen concluded by expressing gratitude to the legislators and emphasized Hong Kong's commitment to facilitating Mainland companies' overseas expansion through Hong Kong, strengthening international cooperation, expanding economic and trade networks, and promoting Hong Kong's role as a hub for intellectual property trading. Hong Kong March 19, 2026, 11:42 AM