Industry and Business Support

The Government maintains close liaison with the industrial and commercial sectors to listen to the trade’s views about the latest business environment and understand their issues. The Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development chairs the Trade and Industry Advisory Board to tap private sector inputs to help formulate government policies and programmes related to trade and industry. 

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are the backbone of Hong Kong's economy. CITB assumes overall policy responsibility for SME support and provides services via the Trade and Industry Department (TID) and various bodies, including: 

Funding schemes that help SMEs explore overseas markets, obtain financing and enhance their competitiveness. For example, the Dedicated Fund on Branding, Upgrading and Domestics Sales (BUD Fund) provides funding support to enterprises in developing markets in the Mainland and economies with which Hong Kong has signed Free Trade Agreements; the SME Export Marketing Fund (EMF) provides funding support for SMEs to undertake promotion activities; the SME Financing Guarantee Scheme and SME Loan Guarantee Scheme help SMEs obtain commercial financing through providing loan guarantees; and the Trade and Industrial Organisation Support Fund (TSF) provides funding support to non-profit-distributing organisations to implement projects that aim at enhancing the competitiveness of Hong Kong enterprises in general or in specific sectors. To help SMEs better utilise government funding schemes, TID has set up the “SME ReachOut” team to support SMEs in identifying suitable funding schemes, and answering questions relating to applications. 

Support service provided through four SME centres, namely, TID’s Support and Consultation Centre for SMEs (SUCCESS), “SME Centre” under the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC), “SME One” under the Hong Kong Productivity Council (HKPC), and “TecONE” under the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation. The four SME centres have now joined forces to provide “four-in-one” integrated service, so that SMEs can obtain information and services relating to government funding schemes, business advice and market information at any one service point.  

Engagement and consultation through the Small and Medium Enterprises Committee, an advisory body appointed by the Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development to collect views on matters relating to the development of SMEs. 

The Government also supports SMEs through non-government subvented bodies, such as HKTDC which helps enterprises explore markets opportunities and HKPC which promotes productivity excellence through integrated advanced technologies and innovative service offerings to support enterprises. 

With the supervision of CITB: 

1. the statutory Hong Kong Trade Development Council actively promotes the external trade of Hong Kong; and 
2. the statutory Hong Kong Export Credit Insurance Corporation provides insurance protection for local exporters against risks of non-payment, arising from commercial and political events, for goods sold or services rendered to overseas customers. 

CITB administers the Professional Services Advancement Support Scheme (PASS) to provide funding support for business and professional organisations, so as to facilitate external promotion and enhancement of Hong Kong's professional services.

To reduce the paperwork involved in trading and improve efficiency, the Government constantly looks for ways to upgrade systems for business-to-government (B2G) transactions. CITB assumes policy responsibility for the Government Electronic Trading Services which supports the electronic submission and processing of the main trade-related documents, and has been working with relevant government departments to roll out the Trade Single Window as a one-stop electronic platform for lodging import and export trade documents with the Government for trade declaration and customs clearance purposes.