Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee delivered his first policy address, “Charting a Brighter Tomorrow for Hong Kong,” on 19 October 2022. In his address, Lee outlined several initiatives to tackle Hong Kong’s pressing economic, healthcare, land and housing issues, including the brain drain, while setting out his five-year vision for the city’s development and the enhancement of Hong Kong’s global competitiveness.
As part of these initiatives, Lee announced four new institutions that will be set up to “compete for enterprise” and “compete for talent” more proactively and aggressively. The tables below summarise information business and HR leaders may find relevant.
Table 1: Initiatives to attract enterprises, investment and talent
Table 2: Initiatives to attract talent from the Chinese mainland and overseas
Table 3: Initiatives to enhance six existing talent-admission schemes
Lee said that the proposed strategies for attracting talent from the mainland and abroad are very aggressive, stating that they will attract graduates from the world’s top 100 universities with at least three years of work experience in the last five years to apply for the two-year Top Talent Pass Scheme.
The 2022 Policy Address also included strategies for grooming local talent, such as strengthening Hong Kong’s education system and launching youth development schemes. This suggests that Lee believes local talent will stay in Hong Kong or be attracted to return as long as the region maintains its competitive edge.
The success of these initiatives will largely depend on the actual execution of the proposed measures by government officials across several bureaus and departments. We will continue to keep you informed as these initiatives are developed and implemented in the near future.
If you require any further assistance please reach out to your BDO contact.
Joseph Hong
josephhong@mccabe.com.hk