Hong Kong chief executive-elect Carrie Lam ‘working around the clock’ to find ministers

The city’s next leader has flown to Beijing to formally receive her appointment to the top job

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Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor is travelling to Beijing with her mathematician husband, Lam Siu-por. The couple married in 1984 and have two sons. Photo: Sam Tsang

Published: 3:30pm, 9 Apr 2017Updated: 10:59pm, 9 Apr 2017

With less than three months to go before she becomes Hong Kong’s leader, Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said she had been working around the clock to find ministers for the next administration – a process she once described as a “nightmare”.

Lam, who needs to recruit a team of ministers to swear in by July 1, made the comments at Hong Kong International Airport yesterday before flying to Beijing, where she will receive her formal appointment to the top job from Premier Li Keqiang.

“I have been elected for two weeks now. I can share with you that I have been working around the clock to contact my preferred candidates. However, I can’t disclose the results today,” she said.

“I hope I can finish formulating my team of ministers for the next administration as soon as possible,” she added.

The chief executive-elect previously joked about the process, saying, “I once had a nightmare that I did not have enough people to swear in on July 1”.

During her four-day stay in Beijing, Lam said she would meet with President Xi Jinping and National People’s Congress chairman Zhang Dejiang. She will also meet with the director of the State Council’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, Wang Guangya, to discuss preparations for the city’s incoming administration.