HK Tops Jiangxi overseas investment list in 2015

Jiangxi and Hong Kong have maintained a long history of trade exchanges and economic cooperation, achieving positive results in such fields as investment, finance, culture and education in recent years. Hong Kong is Jiangxi's largest source of overseas investment.

By the end of 2015, more than 11,000 Hong Kong companies did business in the province, with investment hitting $44.5 billion and accounting for 66.2 percent of Jiangxi's utilized overseas investment.

The provincial government approved the establishment of 510 Hong Kong companies in 2015 alone, with combined investment of nearly $7.6 billion, and 106 Hong Kong companies in the first quarter of this year, with investment of $2.1 billion. This was an increase of 16.6 percent from the first quarter of 2015.

The special administrative region has also become one of the first destinations for Jiangxi companies to go public, serving as a springboard for them to "go global".

Since 2002, 14 companies have been listed on Hong Kong's stock market, including Jiangxi Copper Corp, Artgo Holdings, Hydoo International and Wanguo International Mining, raising total funds of up to $1 billion.

Hong Kong is already the province's second-largest trading partner after the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and its major export destination.

Trade between the two locals reached $4.7 billion last year, accounting for 11 percent of the province's total import-export trade volume.

Some $4.6 billion worth of goods were exported to Hong Kong, including textiles, clothing and farm products, making it Jiangxi's largest single market for exports that year.

Products imported from Hong Kong include integrated circuits and textile products.

By late last year, 122 Jiangxi enterprises had set up branches in Hong Kong, with total actual investment exceeding $230 million.

They engage in fields ranging from import-export trade to product research and development, and business and tourism services. Jiangxi contributes over one-quarter of the fresh vegetables, pork and freshwater fish consumed in Hong Kong each year and boasts Sanbai Mountain, the origin of the Dongjiang River, which supplies drinking water to some 7 million Hong Kong residents.

Personnel exchanges between Hong Kong and Jiangxi are being stepped up.

According to the provincial government, more than 600,000 Hong Kong residents visited Jiangxi in 2015, accounting for 34 percent of the province's overseas visitors.