Category: Government

For companies looking to expand their business into Asia, Hong Kong has long made sense as a good first step. With a common law framework and well-developed infrastructure, Hong Kong offers fertile ground as firms pursue reach across the region.

Its accessibility—the Special Administrative Region is within a five-hour flight for half of the world’s population—is unparalleled. A number of international businesses base their regional operations out of Hong Kong, providing abundant opportunities for networking and connectivity. And its top-class convention and exhibition spaces are some of the most attractive and well-run in the region. No wonder Hong Kong has for decades been recognized as Asia’s leading destination for meetings, exhibitions, conferences and events, an industry commonly known as MICE.

As Hong Kong’s reputation as the region’s go-to destination for MICE events soared, the range of exceptional venues to hold them has morphed. The Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC) remains the choice venue for international events and consistently wins “Asia’s Best” awards—despite intensifying competition in the region—for its service excellence, professionalism and experience in hosting world-class events. The HKCEC is now home to three of the world’s largest, and five of Asia’s biggest, trade exhibitions. World-class fairs such as Art Basel Hong Kong, Vinexpo Hong Kong and Cosmoprof Asia populate HKCEC’s packed calendar.

Having scooped more than 50 major awards in the space of 14 years, Asia- World-Expo has emerged as a leading exhibition and convention venue in Asia, hosting a high-profile and diverse roster, including the Global Sources Trade Fair, the Hong Kong Masters equestrian event, Asia Pacific Life Insurance Congress 2019 and Hong Kong Fintech Week 2019.

The Hong Kong International Trade and Exhibition Centre in Kowloon Bay brings a third impressive option to this vibrant mix, as well as six-star hotels with their own cutting-edge conferencing facilities. Add to this the work of a dedicated event-planning partner, Meetings and Exhibitions Hong Kong of the Hong Kong Tourism Board. Members work tirelessly to aid organizers in designing smooth-running events, from being a super-connector with local trade partners to assisting with hotel bookings and bid proposals, to coordinating hospitality and trade offers, to even arranging dedicated immigration counters at Hong Kong International Airport for mega MICE events. Their experience ensures highly tailored meetings and events move flawlessly from vision to reality.

The 2019 Index of Economic Freedom has ranked Hong Kong the world’s freest economy for the 25th consecutive year. In 2018, Hong Kong was awarded “World’s Leading Business Travel Destination” and “Asia’s Leading Meetings and Conference Destination,” at the World Travel Awards, and “Best City for Meetings in Asia” by Smart Travel Asia. The numbers illustrate Hong Kong’s attraction as a premier MICE destination. In total, 2.3 million visitors participated in “trade” and “trade and consumer” exhibitions in 2018, and more than 69,000 exhibiting companies came to Hong Kong to strengthen their business opportunities.

Hong Kong’s global free port continues to thrive on the free flow of goods, services and capital, and the city remains a rock-solid destination for those wishing to host outstanding exhibitions and events.

 

With its stable political environment, robust regulatory framework and a sophisticated portfolio of entity structures, the Republic of Seychelles in the Indian Ocean is an established international financial jurisdiction that offers businesses and investors a range of products to meet their increasingly complex needs. Today, a host of global financial institutions, law firms and corporate service providers have set up operations on the archipelago, attracted by the country’s many tax and business benefits.

“Seychelles as a jurisdiction has a very solid regulatory framework that is a hybrid of English common law and French civil law. Having a legal system with such flexibility enables us to provide innovative structures to meet the needs of companies,” says Dr. Steve Fanny, Chief Executive Officer of Financial Services Authority, the regulatory body for non-bank financial services in Seychelles.

Fanny adds that Seychelles also enjoys low crime and unemployment, and a literacy rate of more than 95%. “In a nutshell, we have in place the necessary infrastructure for good economic development and growth. That is what differentiates the Seychelles from other jurisdictions,” he says.

Gateway to Africa

Made up of 115 islands that lie 1,500 kilometers east of mainland Africa in the Indian Ocean, Seychelles is ideally positioned as a gateway for international investors into the fast-growing economies of the African continent. In particular, there has been growing interest from Chinese investors in recent years to use the Seychelles as a jurisdiction to expand into Africa.

Seychelles has had a long relationship with China; the two countries established diplomatic relations in 1976. “Our relationship with China has grown over the years and the two countries have one of the best double taxation agreements. Seychelles is also supporting China with the Belt and Road initiative,” says Fanny.

Innovative Structures

Seychelles provides companies and investors with a wide range of entity structures to meet their various needs. For instance, the International Business Company (IBC) is a simple and flexible structure that is ideal for any business, from personal services companies to collective investment schemes operating locally or internationally. Another structure, the Company (Special Licence), or CSL, is a Seychelles domestic company that is allowed to conduct business both internationally and within Seychelles. Both IBCs and CSLs are not subject to Seychelles’ tax or duty on income or profits if they do not derive assessable income in the country.

For investors looking for asset protection, Seychelles offers trust and foundation structures that appoint a trustee/council to manage assets on behalf of the beneficiaries. There are also a host of fund structures that create pools of funds for specific investments.

In the face of a fast-evolving global landscape, Seychelles is designing new products to meet the changing needs of businesses
around the world. The jurisdiction will soon publish a set of regulations for a regulatory sandbox to accommodate the increasingly
important financial technology (fintech) sector. The sandbox will provide a regulated environment that will allow fintech companies in the capital market space to carry out live testing of their innovative products or services. There has been marked interest from several large fintech companies to participate in this initiative. Says Fanny,“Fintech is a fast-growing industry and we are seeing many players coming to Seychelles.”