Secretary for Labour and Welfare Chris Sun on Friday said the government had achieved "remarkable results" over the past three years with a comprehensive talent drive that has seen recruits contributing some HK$34 billion to the local economy each year.

His remarks came as he delivered a keynote speech at the Hong Kong International Talents Conference, a satellite event under the Global Talent Summit Week that is running till March 29.

Speaking at the event in Tsim Sha Tsui, Sun noted that more than 270,000 people had arrived in the SAR over the past three years under various talent schemes.

As some of them have also brought their families to live in the SAR, the HK$34 billion estimate of their contributions accounted for some 1.2 percent of the city's gross domestic product, he added.

Sun also noted the city's rise from ninth to fourth on the World Talent Ranking 2025, published by the International Institute for Management Development, saying the jump represented "hard-won progress" in Hong Kong's bid to be one of the world's most competitive economies for people with key skills.

"Looking ahead to the next few years, Hong Kong will continue in its efforts to build a talent hub. This is also in line with the positioning of Hong Kong as outlined in the national 15th Five-Year Plan.

"Therefore, we are definitely going in this direction," Sun told event participants.

"However, although the government provides policies and makes things more convenient, how do these turn into concrete results? We'll need enterprises, institutions and talent-related associations to work together on this matter," he added.

Sun also noted that the just concluded flagship International Talent Forum and CareerConnectExpo events held on Wednesday and Thursday saw much better turnouts of more than 10,000, higher than an initial estimate of 7,000.

Online attendance was also much better than expected, with events logging some 170,000 against an initial estimate of 130,000.


Edited by Tony Sabine