Hong Kong should focus on developing hi-tech industries that meet the country’s needs, while stepping up efforts to attract global talent and strengthening collaboration with top universities to become an innovation and technology (I&T) hub, a Beijing official has said.
Hou Jianguo, president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, also said at a high-level seminar in Hong Kong on Tuesday that the city’s Northern Metropolis megaproject had a “bright future”.
Zhou Ji, Beijing’s top representative in the city, told the event at government headquarters that the international community was optimistic about Hong Kong’s prospects and had “cast a vote of confidence in its future”.
The seminar was organised by the Hong Kong government to promote the spirit of the fourth plenum of the Communist Party’s Central Committee, which set the tone for Beijing’s policymaking over the next five years.
Hou said: “The country has long attached great importance to Hong Kong’s economy and social development.”
Highlighting Beijing’s calls for the city to become an international I&T hub, he identified three areas that the city should concentrate on to achieve its goal.