On July 23rd, 2020, we presented the final episode of our Power Lunch webinar series, organized with the help of the Belgium-Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong. The third part was dedicated to recently released government plans for establishing a Hainan Free Trade Port (FTP) and its potential implications and opportunities for domestic and foreign businesses.
As with the earlier events, we hosted participants from Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Beijing, as well as from the Netherlands and Belgium. The moderator, Carmen Bakas, backed with a truly international background, started off by briefly explaining the free trade zone concept across Asia, touching upon profits but also some inherent risks such zones have historically posed in terms of environmental or labor issues.
Our speaker, Gan Wang, a partner at DaWo specialized in cross-border M&A, Corporate, and Tax law, approached the issue from several interesting angles. He first explained the concepts underlying Free Trade Zones, including the free movement of goods, services, people, and capital, and then gave some helpful comparisons between Asian and European FTZs.
Later, he discussed tax incentives for enterprises and presented an overview of governmentally encouraged sectors. Apart from tax related issues, Gan explained various other incentives for foreign businesses, including facilitation of foreign investment and cross-border capital flow, as well as preferential policies for international talents in applying for different types of visas, and an interesting issue related to expanding the scope of visa-free entry for over 59 countries.
Finally, Gan discussed the differences between the Shanghai FTZ, Hong Kong, and the Hainan FTP, concluding that all of them create different opportunities and have different orientations and priority industries. Because of that, their nature should be viewed as complementary rather than competitive.
We hope that you had a chance to be with us for this webinar and that you enjoyed it as we did.
If you have any questions related to new and upcoming regulations, do not hesitate to contact us directly by phone or email. Meanwhile, follow us for updates on future webinars organized by DaWo!
