The Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr John Lee, chaired the sixth meeting of the second-term Human Resources Planning Commission this afternoon (November 17).

     At the meeting, members were briefed by the Immigration Department on the implementation of various talent admission schemes in Hong Kong. Apart from nurturing local talents, the Government has been attracting talents needed by Hong Kong through various talent admission schemes while upholding priority employment of the local workforce. For example, professionals may apply to work in Hong Kong under the General Employment Policy and the Admission Scheme for Mainland Talents and Professionals, while the Technology Talent Admission Scheme provides a fast-track arrangement for eligible companies to admit non-local technology talents to undertake research and development work in Hong Kong. Talents from all around the world can also settle in Hong Kong through applying for the annual quota under the Quality Migrant Admission Scheme (QMAS).

     Members also noted the enhancement measures on attracting talent as announced by the Chief Executive in the 2021 Policy Address, including doubling the annual quota under the QMAS from 2 000 to 4 000 and updating the Talent List by adding the new professions of "financial professionals in compliance in asset management" and "professionals in environmental, social and governance" to the list, and expanding the scope of some existing professions. Members were pleased to note that the QMAS was still widely welcomed by talents from around the world under the pandemic and the number of allotted quota in 2020 nearly doubled that of 2019. Members agreed that Hong Kong would need to continue to attract talents to enrich its talent pool to promote high-end economic development and grasp the opportunities brought by the national development. They also offered comments on different talent admission schemes.

     In addition, members were briefed by Invest Hong Kong (InvestHK) on its talent attraction work. Since the Chief Executive mentioned in the 2020 Policy Address the need to proactively attract non-local talents to come to Hong Kong, InvestHK has been actively working with relevant policy bureaux, Hong Kong Economic and Trade Offices and other stakeholders to showcase to global talents the opportunities in Hong Kong by organising different kinds of global promotion events and through social media and other digital promotion platforms. To further promote the advantages of Hong Kong and various talent admission schemes, InvestHK has also rolled out a range of promotional initiatives, including a thematic website on talent attraction, flyers, presentation decks and promotional videos for reference by those interested in coming to Hong Kong for career development.

     Members welcomed the Government's promotional efforts on talent attraction, and offered comments and suggestions on how to better take forward the relevant work to meet the talent demand in Hong Kong.

Ends/Wednesday, November 17, 2021
Issued at HKT 18:11

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