Hong Kong council extends helping hand

HONG Kong Trade Development Council will allocate more resources this year to help local firms develop in the Chinese mainland market, an official said yesterday.

The figure is 25 percent more than that of last year, said Benjamin Chau, assistant executive director of the council, in a conference aimed at helping Hong Kong enterprises in Dongguan, Guangdong Province. Given the continuing global financial crisis, Hong Kong enterprises in Guangdong are under pressure and face challenges to survive, while markets in the United States, Europe and Japan, which are Hong Kong's traditional export markets, are shrinking this year, Chau said.