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Hong Kong’s chief on Wednesday unveiled a brand new visa scheme to woo international expertise, as the town seeks to stem a mind drain that’s undermining its standing as a global monetary middle.
Chief Govt John Lee mentioned the brand new High Expertise Move Scheme will permit these incomes an annual wage of two.5 million Hong Kong {dollars} ($318,472) or extra and graduates of the world’s prime universities to work or pursue alternatives within the metropolis for 2 years.
Hong Kong, a former British colony handed to Chinese language management in 1997, faces myriad challenges.
The territory has a semi-autonomous standing, and its personal authorized system and economic system, however tons of of hundreds of residents have left the town lately, pushed by a crackdown on political dissent and diminished freedoms after authorities imposed a tricky nationwide safety regulation, and by strict COVID-19 entry restrictions in place throughout a lot of the pandemic.
During the last two years, the town’s workforce has shrunk by about 140,000 individuals, Lee mentioned.
“We should be extra proactive and aggressive in competing for enterprises and competing for expertise,” Lee mentioned throughout his maiden coverage deal with on Wednesday. “Other than actively nurturing and retaining native expertise, the federal government will proactively trawl the world for expertise.”
Lee introduced a raft of proposals — together with tax rebates and relaxed measures for hiring foreigners — to spice up the town’s competitiveness after its coronavirus restrictions hammered the native economic system and drove professionals away.
International new dwelling consumers can obtain a partial refund of the stamp responsibility — a tax levied on property purchases — on their first residential property buy once they change into everlasting residents.
The federal government will streamline processes for corporations to make use of foreigners in designated professions, arrange a brand new process drive to formulate recruitment methods, and supply help for newcomers, he mentioned.
Lee’s deal with largely centered on efforts to recruit international staff and help livelihoods to attempt to win public belief, mentioned Chinese language College political scientist Ivan Choy.
However such measures are unlikely to spice up his reputation since insurance policies like the brand new visa scheme give attention to attracting new, international expertise as a substitute of retaining native expertise, Choy mentioned.
“You might be solely attempting to draw new blood, however you don’t attempt to cease the bleeding,” he mentioned.
Lee later mentioned he additionally was dedicated to retaining native professionals, pointing to the town’s training efforts and subsidies to assist staff pursue their profession objectives.
A former safety chief handpicked by Beijing to steer Hong Kong, Lee is below strain to reposition the town as a prime enterprise and monetary hub, after the exodus of residents raised fears that expertise will proceed leaving for rival cities like Singapore and Dubai. He goals to recruit 35,000 expert staff to Hong Kong annually.
Town’s inhabitants in mid-2022 dropped 1.6 % from a yr earlier, falling by 113,200 residents as of August, in keeping with authorities statistics.
Singapore overtook Hong Kong in a rating of world monetary facilities final month. In August, it introduced a brand new visa that enables expert, high-earning international expertise to work for a couple of employer at a time.
Regardless of Hong Kong’s new expertise drive, Singapore nonetheless has some benefits over Hong Kong due to its location in Southeast Asia, the place some economies are rising shortly, mentioned Simon Lee, honorary institute fellow on the Chinese language College of Hong Kong’s Asia-Pacific Institute of Enterprise.
Working in a spot that depends on China might pose some “profession dangers” for expert staff as its economic system slows. Expert staff from mainland China additionally may deal with Hong Kong as a stepping stone for his or her careers, he mentioned.
“These mainland abilities have extra locations (to select from),” he mentioned.
Lee additionally addressed housing and nationwide safety points in his deal with.
To redress a scarcity of reasonably priced housing on this planet’s costliest property market, Lee pledged to offer sufficient land to construct 72,000 personal residential flats over the following 5 years.
He additionally mentioned the federal government would velocity up the event of public housing by introducing easier layouts to scale back ready instances for candidates, who at present wait a median of six years to get flats. Different measures embody introducing a minimal measurement restrict for brand spanking new models.
Lee mentioned the federal government would “additional strengthen the authorized system and enforcement mechanisms for safeguarding nationwide safety” as the town prepares to enact its personal safety regulation. Such efforts have been shelved in 2003 after fears a few lack of freedoms sparked huge protests.
New legal guidelines and rules may also be carried out to control crowdfunding actions and improve cybersecurity for crucial infrastructure, he mentioned.
Lee gave no signal he plans to ease pandemic restrictions within the metropolis.
Hong Kong will give attention to actively monitoring the coronavirus as a substitute of “mendacity flat,” and can goal to scale back extreme circumstances and deaths in addition to defend these at high-risk of the coronavirus, amongst others, in keeping with Lee.
Presently, vacationers to Hong Kong now not want to finish obligatory quarantines. however they do must do a slew of coronavirus checks each day of their first week. They’re solely allowed to enter venues equivalent to eating places and museums once they’ve examined unfavorable for the coronavirus for 3 days in a row upon arrival.
Native authorities say the present measures obtain a stability between permitting simpler worldwide journey and controlling new infections. Critics say the relaxed entry measures gained’t do a lot to spice up tourism since guests will face the trouble of COVID-19 testing and aren’t free to eat out or discover sure points of interest within the metropolis for a number of days.
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