Hong Kong remains an attractive global business center though confronted with challenges, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Chief Executive Donald Tsang said Tuesday.

Welcoming new investors at a reception, Tsang said that one of the challenges is air pollution and the government is taking active steps to deal with it. He appealed to the business sector to do its part by ensuring manufacturing operations in the Pearl River Delta are as environmentally friendly as possible.

Noting the second challenge is the danger of "marginalisation", Tsang said Hong Kong people and the government will remain alert both to dangers and opportunities.

Director-General of Investment Promotion Mike Rowse said inward investment continues to come to Hong Kong. As at the end of June, Invest Hong Kong had helped 156 companies invest or expand in the city, achieving more than half its annual target of 240 and representing an 8.3 percent rise on the same period last year.

These projects will create more than 4,285 jobs for Hong Kong. The involved investments will lead to the immediate creation of more than 1,699 jobs, and create at least 2,586 additional places in the next two years. Initial investment by these companies topped 6.82 billion HK dollars (874.36 million U.S. dollars), Rowse said.

The flow of mainland investment in Hong Kong remains strong, Rowse added. the Chinese mainland companies made up 13.5 percent of the department's completed projects in the first six months, and now constitute 20 percent of the current live caseload.

The Closer Economic Partnership Arrangements (CEPA) continued to have a positive impact on attracting investors to Hong Kong, Rowse said. About 23 percent of the companies the department had assisted so far this year indicated that CEPA played an important role in their decision to invest here.

Over 200 guests representing some 150 overseas, Mainland and Taiwan Province's companies attended the reception. Consuls-General, heads of international chambers of commerce in Hong Kong and Hong Kong's Investment Promotion Ambassadors also joined the event.