Hengqin offers financial incentives to expand trade

The Hengqin New Area Administrative Committee will subsidize up to 50 percent of paid application fees for overseas patents. At the same time, the Zhuhai Free Trade Zone will provide a maximum of 2 million yuan ($289,800) to back up cross-border e-commerce, according to the government authorities.

Hengqin New Area

Applications for the Hengqin New Area 2016 foreign trade support fund will be accepted until May 17. To encourage enterprises to expand the scale of their exports, Hengqin will offer maximum subsidies of 1 million yuan ($145,000) to each company, granting 2 cents of RMB for each $1 of export sales exceeding $5 million.

Financial aid for transport, accommodations, booth rentals, and special booth design will also be offered to enterprises. This will encourage domestic and foreign procurement, trade promotion activities, large-scale economic and trade activities, and international market surveys. For intermediary service agencies organizing these activities, Hengqin New Area will finance up to 300,000 yuan ($43,485).

To establish and consummate trade friction risk prevention and control system, enterprises that prosecute or defend in trade conflict suits can receive no more than 50 percent of actual attorney fees.

Hengqin New Area to subsidize businesses [Photo courtesy news.youth.cn]

Zhuhai Free Trade Zone

The Zhuhai Free Trade Zone Administrative Committee Cross-Border Authority will continue to receive paper application materials for last year's cross-border e-commerce development support fund until May 31 from enterprises in the Zhuhai Free Trade and Zhuhai-Macao Cross-Border Industrial zones.

The fund application is suitable for e-commerce, platform, and service enterprises registered in the area. Eligible companies will each receive 2 million yuan ($289,800) at maximum. If the total amount declared exceeds 10 million yuan ($1.45 million), the Zhuhai Free Trade Zone will prorate the subsidies.

Besides annual support funding, the zone will also offer cogent assistance to e-commerce enterprises such as free work sites, as well as proportioned awards on online trading volume, foreign trade turnover, and cross-border e-commerce import-export commodity parcels.    

The free work or exhibition site offered upon application will be no more than 100 sq m and have a life span to Dec 31 this year. When the free period runs out, enterprises can pay rent to continue the usage.