The Dongguan municipal government will provide more assistance to Hong Kong firms with manufacturing operations in the city and will boost its cooperation with the territory under the Closer Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), Dongguan Mayor Li Yuquan told a group of Hong Kong journalists yesterday.

He said the municipal government has guided more bank lending to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), many from Hong Kong, to help them boost their liquidity and survive a tough operating environment amid a global recession.

As a result of this guidance, some 10.2 billion yuan in bank loans was provided to some 200 Hong Kong-funded firms in Dongguan between October 1 last year up to end-March this year, he said.

Hong Kong-funded firms account for about 60 per cent of some 14,700 overseas business-funded companies currently operating in Dongguan.

In addition to assistance in getting bank loans, the municipal government also set up a 1 billion yuan special fund for use by foreign-funded firms to upgrade their operations and move into the production of higher-value products from low-value manufacturing operations, Li said.

This assistance is specifically directed to Hong Kong-funded firms, he said.

As for new support measures, he said the municipal government has set aside 300 million yuan to help foreign-funded firms in Guangdong to penetrate the international and mainland market, he said.

He noted the difficulties of export-oriented SMEs in obtaining export orders amid global recession. These firms will be assisted in penetrating the mainland market, he said.

A large-scale exhibition of products, produced in Dongguan by overseas-funded firms, will be staged to help them sell their products on the mainland market.

Li said the Dongguan municipal government plans to explore ways in which it can expand its cooperation with Hong Kong under the CEPA umbrella, a trade pact between the mainland and Hong Kong.

Dongguan will also further cooperate with Hong Kong in areas such as urbanization, healthcare services, education, social services and public services.

Operators of higher education and medical practitioners in Hong Kong will be welcomed to open branches in Dongguan, Li said.

Editor: Yan