Trade volume between the Chinese mainland and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) reached 178.46 billion U.S. dollars in the first 11 months, up 19.5 percent year on year, statistics from the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) showed.

The mainland's exports to the HKSAR reached 166.81 billion U.S. dollars, and imports from the HKSAR reached 11.65 billion U.S. dollars, up 19.6 percent and 18.2 percent respectively, MOC statistics revealed.

The mainland has attracted direct investment from the HKSAR in 14,593 projects, up 6.6 percent and the actual use of Hong Kong direct investment reached 22.43 billion U.S. dollars, up 28.2 percent.

By the end of November, 2007, direct investment of the HKSAR in the mainland totaled 302.19 billion U.S. dollars since figures first began in 1978 with the opening up of trade between China and Hong Kong.

The HKSAR's direct investment in the mainland ranked first among all overseas direct investment.

(Xinhua News Agency December 19, 2007)