Chief Secretary Eric Chan said on Sunday that the government's task force on resuming quarantine-free travel with the mainland had held its first meeting, in which it discussed details such as border operations, transportation and risk management.

This came a day after Chief Executive John Lee returned to Hong Kong from his maiden work visit to Beijing.

Writing on his Facebook page, Chan – who leads a task force of 15 government bureaus – said preparation work for border reopening is in full swing.

He said officials are in talks with their mainland counterparts to finalise a plan that will be submitted to the central government for approval once a consensus is reached.

Chan added that he hopes full border re-opening can be achieved by mid-January, to boost economic momentum on both sides.