Pedestrians use a crossing in Central, Hong Kong, on Feb 28, 2023. (ANDY CHONG / CHINA DAILY)

HONG KONG - Chris Sun Yuk-han, secretary for labor and welfare of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government, said on Thursday that as of July 31, Hong Kong's various talent admission programs received more than 120,000 applications and over 75,000 have been approved.

Sun noted that among these talent admission programs, the Top Talent Pass Scheme (TTPS) received an overwhelming response. As of the end of July, over 40,000 applications were received, and over 30,000 were approved since its launch.

Sun said that the global competition for talents remains fierce and the HKSAR government needs to continue to actively attract more talents from all over the world to Hong Kong

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The enhancement measures on the Quality Migrant Admission Scheme (QMAS) were introduced on Jan 1, 2023. As of July 31, about 40,000 applications were received, and about 10,000 were approved, marking 2023 the year with the largest number of approvals since the launch of the QMAS.

Sun said that despite the positive response to the various talent admission programs, the global competition for talents remains fierce and the HKSAR government needs to continue to actively attract more talents from all over the world to Hong Kong.

"As one of the most competitive economies in the world, Hong Kong enjoys many unique advantages and offers huge opportunities and potential for those talents," he said.

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A series of talent attraction measures announced in the Policy Address have been implemented since Dec 28, 2022. They include introducing the TTPS targeting talent with high income and academic qualifications as well as enhancing existing talent admission programs.