HK continues to attract Chinese and overseas business(2)

"Hong Kong is China light -- an easy place to set up base and do business with the China mainland, Vietnam and other Asian countries," Galpin said. "We have 48 million visitors coming to Hong Kong basically to shop ... Open a business in Hong Kong and business comes to you."

Invest Hong Kong works with about 700 businesses at any given time, about 20 percent of which are from the United States, Galpin said.

"We're seeing companies come from the two ends of the spectrum -- very large companies and the other trend we're seeing is small companies. You don't have to be a large company to do business in Hong Kong, but you do have to be competitive," he said.

The seminar at which Galpin spoke was titled "Hong Kong Right Place, Right Time, Right Now," and Galpin said that underscored the fact that Hong Kong is "not a post-Colonial relic frozen in time."

"Businesses come to Hong Kong because they want to access the cities and areas around Hong Kong -- the China mainland, South Korea, Vietnam, Southeast Asia, Singapore, Tokyo," Galpin said. "Hong Kong will remain a low-tax economy with no sales tax, no capital tax. If you have a new technology, this is a great place to try it out."

While Hong Kong has few natural resources, it has a population of 7.1 million and a government that invests in their education.

"The single greatest resource is our people and our universities are among the best in the world," Galpin said.

Far from the movie stereotype of kung-fu practitioners on every corner, Galpin said, Hong Kong is one of the safest countries on the planet.

"The number of wealthy people continues to grow and wealthy individuals from the China mainland and elsewhere come to buy," he said. "Four-plus million visitors a year come to buy."

In terms of U.S. dollars, Hong Kong generates about 83 billion U.S. dollars annually and sends out 82 billion, much of which goes to the Chinese mainland, Galpin said.

"Hong Kong is the world's (most free) economy, with free trade in the heart of Asia," he said.