Following is the transcript of remarks by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Chris Sun, at a media session after attending the opening of the Global Talent Summit · Hong Kong organised by Hong Kong Talent Engage this morning (May 7):
Reporter: What kind of specialties or industries are the 120 000 people under the various talent admission schemes from? How many of them are from the Mainland? How would the Government further improve Hong Kong's competitiveness to attract talent?
Secretary for Labour and Welfare: Over the past one and a half years, various talent admission schemes have attracted around 120 000 talents who have already arrived here in Hong Kong. In terms of visas approved, it is 180 000. Of these, 120 000 talents have already arrived. More than 50 000 came to Hong Kong under the Top Talent Pass Scheme (TTPS). We have just conducted a first-round survey, asking questions and getting information from people coming to Hong Kong under the TTPS. Around one-third are engaged in the finance industry, around 18 per cent in innovation and the information technology industry. Again, around 17 per cent are engaged in commerce. Their average salaries for those coming to Hong Kong under the TTPS is around $50,000. That’s a lot more than the median pay of Hong Kong wage earners. About a quarter are earning more than $100,000 a month and about 10 per cent are earning more than $200,000 a month.
We have achieved quite a lot in the past one and a half years. We will keep on our good effort. We want to make use of this very good start to project Hong Kong and make sure that Hong Kong remains the talent hub in this part of the world. We are going to make good use of the various schemes to attract talent to Hong Kong to help grow our economy and drive the very growth of Hong Kong in various areas.
Reporter: How would the Government attract talent from, as you said, Southeast Asia and Europe other than from the Mainland?
Secretary for Labour and Welfare: The first thing we have to do is to increase their awareness. We have a lot of information available online, but we also believe it is important for us to go there to conduct a lot of face-to-face meetings and also sessions, so that we can disseminate all the information about Hong Kong to them. We are very sure that once we have let them know all the growth prospects and all the very exciting opportunities here in Hong Kong, a lot of talent in Southeast Asia as well as Europe will be thinking about Hong Kong and they will really give Hong Kong a good shot. Thank you very much.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
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