With its strategic location at the doorway to the Mainland and in a time zone that bridges the gap between Asia and Europe, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) serves as a global centre for trade, finance, business and communications.

Hong Kong is characterised by a high degree of internationalisation, business-friendly environment, rule of law, free trade and free flow of information, open and fair competition, well-established and comprehensive financial network, superb network of transport and communications infrastructure, sophisticated support services, and a well-educated workforce complemented by a pool of efficient and enterprising entrepreneurs. It has one of the busiest airports in terms of number of passengers and volume of international cargo handled and one of the busiest container ports. Added to these are substantial foreign exchange reserves, a fully convertible and stable currency, prudent fiscal reserves and a simple tax system with a low tax rate.

Hong Kong is the world's 13th largest trading economy and has ranked as the world's freest economy in the Heritage Foundation's annual Index of Economic Freedom for 16 consecuritve years. A similar study by the US-based Cato Institute and Canada's Fraser Institute has also ranked Hong Kong as the world's freest economy since 1970.

If you want to know more about Hong Kong's economy, please click here.

See also "Background information about Hong Kong".