Former Chief Executive CY Leung has stressed the need to address what he sees as misunderstandings about Hong Kong by foreign investors.

Speaking on Tuesday at a forum on the SAR's development, Leung said while the further relaxation of Covid travel rules is an important factor for bringing investors back to Hong Kong, it is not the only issue that matters.

The vice chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference said while many Hongkongers hope that investors will return to the city after officials bring in the “zero plus zero” policy, that won't be enough as overseas firms and key opinion leaders tend to have misunderstandings about Hong Kong.

"Not only do they not know [enough about Hong Kong], they have plenty of misunderstandings or superficial knowledge. Or they were misled, because of smearing campaigns by overseas media and politicians about what's really happening in Hong Kong," Leung said.

The former CE also said people need to be aware that Hong Kong is facing more opportunities than challenges as the country undergoes major changes.

But he said to tap into the country’s development momentum, Hong Kong needs to address a number of issues, namely people not knowing enough about the country's development, mainland firms not knowing about the SAR's advantages and overseas businesses knowing too little about Hong Kong’s actual situation.

The state leader added that Hong Kong ranks fourth in a recently-released United Nations Human Development Index, which measures people's health, knowledge and standard of living in different countries and regions. Leung noted that Singapore is ranked 12th and the United Kingdom 18th, but he said Hong Kong shouldn't be complacent and should continue to strive to improve.