Chairman's Message - Hopes for 2023 Policy Address to Focus on Creating Strong Impetus for Growth
Dr Jonathan CHOI Koon-shum (Chairman of the 53rd terms of office) September 2023
The new Policy Address must capitalize on the opportunities presented by the country’s development, and strive to meet President Xi’s expectations for Hong Kong to continue creating strong impetus for growth and earnestly address people’s concerns and difficulties in daily life, so that sustainable economic growth and stable social development can be pursued on a sound foundation.
Hong Kong’s economic development has picked up speed again as soon as the COVID-19 situation cleared up and normalcy returned. However, the capricious global political and economic climate still poses challenges to many businesses. We are eager to see the upcoming Policy Address include measures that will provide businesses with suitable support to help them ride out uncertainties. There should also be targeted measures to attract and nurture talent, and long-term policies to promote Hong Kong’s participation in regional cooperation, with creating strong impetus for growth in all areas as the overarching goal.
Retain and draw talent to promote diverse development
To address the labor shortages in various industries, the HKSAR government should consider further simplifying the working visa application process for foreign talent, and relaxing the restrictions on non-local students to stay and seek employment in Hong Kong. Increasing the number of incoming non-local students will also help promote internationalization on university campuses and the diverse development of Hong Kong’s education sector.
Once the basic rights of local workers are secured, we recommend that the authorities should explore further increasing the quota of non-local workers. In the long run, it is important for the HKSAR government to formulate a clear population policy and carry out workforce planning in education, industrial development and other areas to meet future development needs.
Strengthen the functions of competitive industries
In light of today’s international trade and investment environment, it makes sense for Hong Kong to transition from specializing in entrepot trade to operating in all types of international trade. To this end, the HKSAR government should actively work with Hengqin and Hainan to create an international trade platform that will allow the benefits of Hong Kong’s cooperation with the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (Greater Bay Area) and Hainan to maximize. The authorities can also use the Greater Bay Area as the pilot test point to create a uniform testing and certification standard as well as a platform for certifying and testing quality products, which will help align the country’s commodity exports with international standards.
For the financial sector, Hong Kong can accelerate the internationalization of RMB by, for instance, expanding HKD-RMB dual counter stock trading, which will attract enterprises in the “Belt & Road” Initiative markets to list and trade in RMB in Hong Kong. It can also support the development of green finance and sustainable professional services in the Greater Bay Area through enriching its own range of green financial products and setting up a platform for carbon trading.
Furthermore, more government resources should be allocated to the innovation and technology (I&T) industry, whereas cooperation with the Mainland should be enhanced in strategic areas like new energy, biomedicine and artificial intelligence. Again using the Greater Bay Area as a pilot test site, the Mainland and Hong Kong authorities can collaborate further to promote cross-boundary data flow and the development of supercomputing centers. Greater efforts should also be made to attract more globally leading I&T corporations to the Northern Metropolis and promote investments in the Greater Bay Area’s upstream and downstream industry chain, so as to boost industrial agglomeration and speed up progress at the Northern Metropolis.
Make border-crossing more convenient
Currently, Hong Kong residents are still required to complete a health declaration form when entering and exiting the Mainland, which encumbers cross-boundary travel. We hope the HKSAR authorities can lobby to the Mainland for the abolition of the health declaration requirement as soon as possible. Meanwhile, the HKSAR government and the Guangdong Provincial Government can explore implementing the “collaborative inspection and joint clearance” mode at existing Hong Kong-Shenzhen boundary check points, and launching the joint boundary control system at the Huanggang and Sha Tau Kok ports once their redevelopment is completed. All these measures will be conducive to the high-quality, integrated development in the Greater Bay Area.
To conclude, the new Policy Address must capitalize on the opportunities presented by the country’s development, and strive to meet President Xi’s expectations for Hong Kong to continue creating strong impetus for growth and earnestly address people’s concerns and difficulties in daily life, so that sustainable economic growth and stable social development can be pursued on a sound foundation.
