Guangdong offers support

Guangdong authorities are offering billions of yuan in financial aid and abolishing more than 100 types of administrative fees to help firms funded by investors from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan.

Speaking at a seminar on Wednesday, which was attended by executives from local chambers of commerce, Vice-Governor Wan Qingliang said the province has used the policies to help Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan-funded businesses survive the global economic downturn.

Guangdong's industrial environment has many advantages and Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan-funded firms should take advantage of the preferential policies, he said.

Earlier this year, the government launched a series of measures to help firms in Guangdong.

These included a 1 billion yuan ($146 million) fund to pay for firms to upgrade their industrial structure and change their mode of processing.

A 2 billion yuan fund was set up to help small and medium-sized enterprises.

Some 100 types of administrative fees were cut, as were pension contributions and the price of power.

Allen Pang, head of commercial relations at the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Guangdong, said he hoped the province will do more to help firms.

He said it should reform the value added tax system, and transform processing firms into manufacturing ones.

Sixty-four percent of the 91,000 foreign firms in Guangdong come from Hong Kong, Macao or Taiwan, according to official figures.

The province generates about 25 percent of China's annual foreign trade, but has been having a difficult time during the financial crisis.

Thousands of companies have downed shutters after global orders fell, leaving a large number of workers out of job.

Source: China Daily