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John Lee to incorporate public views into five-year plan and Policy Address
06-09-2026 11:33 HKT
HK sets Sept 16 for joint release of 5-year blueprint and Policy Address
26-08-2026 18:46 HKT
The government pledged to implement 10 measures to support the diversified development of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), as well as their upgrading and transformation, under the 2026 Policy Address delivered by Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu on Wednesday.
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Under the roadmap, the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau will expand the geographical scope of the BUD Fund to cover Uzbekistan and Qatar, encouraging local businesses to tap into emerging markets.
The Hong Kong Export Credit Insurance Corporation will extend its 20 free buyer credit checks for another year until September 2027 to continue supporting its insured markets.
The HKTDC will strengthen the services of E-Commerce Express, promoting the awareness of Hong Kong brands and expanding their coverage in e-commerce markets outside Hong Kong.
Meanwhile, theTrade and Industry Department will coordinate with the "Four-in-One" Integrated Services of SME Centres to organise branding seminars and workshops to assist SMEs in formulating brand development strategies.
The government will also continue to encourage more departments and public bodies to connect to the Hong Kong Monetary Authority's (HKMA) Commercial Data Interchange (CDI) and explore the feasibility of automated payments.
This integration will enable banks to conduct instant business registration searches through the CDI, which has already helped reduce corporate borrowing costs by an average of 36 basis points.
The HKMA, in collaboration with the Shanghai Data Bureau, will implement a pilot project on trade data connectivity this year, covering Hong Kong SME traders exporting goods from the mainland.
Starting from this year, Project CargoX will progressively connect the CDI with the Trade Single Window, the Port Community System and the Digital Corporate Identity platform. It will also explore connections with ASEAN's electronic port systems to enable the one-stop access to data for approval by banks.
At the same time, the Hong Kong Technology and Innovation Support Centre will provide qualitative patent evaluation services and offer funding support to SMEs for conducting valuations of their intellectual property (IP) assets to facilitate financing.
Furthermore, the government will introduce more targeted funding support for artificial intelligence projects, following the raising of the funding ceiling of "Easy BUD" applications under the BUD Fund to HK$150,000 in June.
