It is the third office established by the Hong Kong SAR Government in the mainland with a mission to assist mainland enterprises in the Yangtze River Delta region to enter the world market and to provide support to Hong Kong enterprises in the region to facilitate their business development.

Invest Hong Kong, the inward investment promotion agency of the Hong Kong SAR Government, plans to attract at least 250 companies this year to settle or expand their existing businesses in Hong Kong, said Simon Galpin, Associate Director General of Invest Hong Kong.

"We hope 17-20 percent of them can be Chinese companies," Galpin said. "In recent years, we have input many resources in attracting companies from the Chinese mainland to develop and finance in Hong Kong. This is an important part of our work."

Each has its own good

Shanghai is devoted to developing the financial industry under the national strategy in recent years, hence posing competition to Hong Kong, which is already an international financial hub. When meeting with all directors of Bank of Montreal on January 22, Han Zheng told the guests that the National Financial Work Conference, which had just ended, had confirmed Shanghai's role as an international financial center.

"Looking at the future development of the financial industry, Shanghai will have a larger space than any other cities in the world," Han said.

Figures from the Shanghai Foreign Economic Relation and Trade Commission showed that by the end of 2006, there had been 500 foreign business headquarters in Shanghai, including 154 regional headquarters of transnational companies, 150 foreign-funded investment companies and 196 foreign-funded research and development centers.

However, Henry Tang still did not forget to mention Hong Kong's advantages and charm, calling it an important financial center in the Asia-Pacific region. According to him, in 2006, Hong Kong served as the third largest banking center in Asia and among the 100 largest banks in the world, nearly 70 had opened business in Hong Kong. Moreover, by the end of last year, companies from the Chinese mainland contributed nearly 50 percent to the total market value of the Hong Kong stock exchange and 60 percent of the market's turnover daily.

In January, the Central Government gave the approval for mainland lenders to issue renminbi bonds in Hong Kong, marking a breakthrough in its currency polices and paving the way for a fully-convertible yuan.

This is deemed to be an important measure adopted by the Central Government to consolidate Hong Kong's status as an international financial center. It can bring more advantages to development of the financial industry in the city. Chief Executive of the Hong Kong SAR, Donald Tsang Yam-kuen, also welcomed the move.

"This new category of renminbi business is conducive to business opportunities for banks and enhancing financial flows between Hong Kong and the mainland," he said.