The government's investment promotion agency said on Friday that the number of international and mainland companies looking to set up and expand in Hong Kong surged last year.

InvestHK said it brought 382 companies from 45 economies to the SAR in 2023, up 27 percent from the previous year, following the end of Covid travel restrictions.

While about a third of the firms, or 136, were from the mainland, 48 were from the UK, 34 from the US, 27 from Singapore and 13 from Australia.

It said most of the companies were in the financial services, fintech, innovation and technology sectors.

The total investment brought into the city reached HK$61.6 billion, with more than 4,000 jobs created, it added.

Meanwhile, Alpha Lau, director-general of investment promotion, said that the government's plan to enact national security legislation under Article 23 of the Basic Law has not deterred overseas companies from expanding in the city.

“Not a single company has been affected about their urge to come to Hong Kong to do business or to further expand their business in Hong Kong because of Article 23 or other similar legislation,” she said.

“Article 23 has already been in consideration for a number of years. They know that this is in place, and they’ve said that, in fact they have shared that in many countries, including their own, there’s always some sort of national security legislation. Provided there’s enough consultation and it’s reasonable, they believe it will not really affect how they always see Hong Kong, which is the best place to do business, certainly in Asia and a lot of countries in the world."

The unit aims to attract a total of 1,130 businesses to set up or expand in the SAR between 2023 and 2025.