HK Seeks Free Flow Of People For New Bay Area Plan

Financial Secretary Paul Chan said on Wednesday that the government is in talks with mainland officials on how to allow the free flow of people, money and information across the border, so Hong Kong can become the country's international centre for innovation and technology.

At a lunch with more than 100 business leaders, Chan said Hong Kong needs to tap into the pool of talent on the mainland as it takes advantage of opportunities offered by the new Greater Bay Area.

"We are working not just with the Guangdong government but also the central government, in order to allow us to work better together to achieve some policy breakthrough in order to enable free flow of people, money, information and goods," Chan said.

"At the moment there are two innovation and technology centres in China: one is Beijing, the other is Shanghai. And we want the third one, the international one, to be in Hong Kong."

Chan also told the business leaders that Hong Kong has a good track record of attracting top-notch research centres, such as Sweden's Karolinska Institute. He said the government may provide them with incentives to help nurture local talent.

"If we are to attract these companies to come, at the moment we may not be able to offer the full-range of talents, particularly we may not have the critical number that can satisfy their requirements," Chan said.

"We may consider allowing them to bring in some such talents and experts with them to Hong Kong, on the condition that they have to employ a certain ratio of local talents, so that we will be able to have the opportunity to nurture our own talents."