Trade volume between the Chinese mainland and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) reached $197.25 billion in 2007, up 18.7 percent year-on-year, statistics from the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) showed.

The Chinese mainland's exports to the HKSAR reached $184.43 billion, and imports from the HKSAR reached $12.82 billion, up 18.7 and 18.8 percent respectively, according to the MOFCOM statistics.

The Chinese mainland attracted direct investment from the HKSAR in 16,208 projects last year, up 4.6 percent and the actual use of Hong Kong direct investment reached $27.7 billion, up 30 percent.

By the end of December 2007, direct investment of the HKSAR in the Chinese mainland totalled $284.7 billion in 285,763 projects since figures first began in 1978 with the opening up of trade between the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong.

The HKSAR's direct investment in the Chinese mainland ranked first among all direct investment not from the Chinese mainland, accounting for 40.4 percent of the total.

Editor: Yan