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Opinion | Greater mobility across Greater Bay Area will open up career paths for Hong Kong’s youth
- The free flow of talent across the region will depend on steps to enhance the mutual recognition of qualifications and further integrate social welfare, including access to education and health services
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Covid-19 may have brought cross-border travel to a standstill, but development of the Greater Bay Area has shown no sign of slowing. China saw a surge of foreign investment in 2021, with 10,263 new foreign-invested companies set up in the first three months of the year.
In addition, 19 Hong Kong banks were given the green light in October to sell investment products in the Greater Bay Area under the Wealth Management Connect scheme.
Such moves to accelerate market integration between Hong Kong and the mainland are good news for the Greater Bay Area, which comprises Hong Kong, Macau, and nine provincial cities in Guangdong.
The goal of making the area the world’s next finance and innovation hub is complicated by the fact that it is spread across three separate customs territories. Even before the pandemic, the different currencies and legal frameworks hindered the flow of capital, technology, and crucially, people.
Encouragingly, the Hong Kong government acknowledged the need to facilitate the flow of talent between Hong Kong and Guangdong in this year’s policy address. We should build on this momentum to overcome existing barriers.
Allowing greater mobility in the Greater Bay Area will benefit Hong Kong’s younger generations by giving them access to a wider range of career paths and entrepreneurial opportunities. They will also be in a position to shape and develop industries in the region, increasing its global appeal in the process.
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