Chief Secretary Chan Kwok-ki attended a conference and visited the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (Guangdong) Innovation & Entrepreneurship Incubation Base in Guangzhou today.

Mr Chan spoke at the opening ceremony of the First Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area High-quality Development Conference of Talent Service jointly organised by the governments of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau.

He noted that Hong Kong, as a highly open and international city, is able to fully leverage its unique advantages of enjoying the strong support of the motherland and being closely connected to the world under the "one country, two systems" principle, serve as the gateway for talent in the bay area, and attract quality talent from overseas to pursue development in the area.

Besides nurturing local talent at full steam, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government is proactively drawing talent from around the world. The array of initiatives rolled out at the end of December last year has received an overwhelming response, Mr Chan pointed out.

He stressed that Hong Kong, as an international talent hub, will fully leverage its advantages and fully collaborate with the other cities in the bay area in developing it into a high-quality talent hub, thereby making greater contributions to the country's first-rate development.

Mr Chan and Secretary for Labour & Welfare Chris Sun, together with leaders of the Guangdong and Macau governments, officiated at the virtual plaque unveiling ceremony of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (Guangdong) Talent Exhibition Hall and paid a visit to the hall.

Furthermore, Mr Sun introduced how Guangdong and Hong Kong have joined hands to develop new strengths in competing for international talent at the summit of the conference.

Before returning to Hong Kong, Mr Chan visited the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (Guangdong) Innovation & Entrepreneurship Incubation Base.

He was briefed on the one-stop services on innovation and entrepreneurship provided by the base to young people from Hong Kong and Macau, and exchanged views with representatives of a service organisation stationed there and some young entrepreneurs from Hong Kong.

He made it clear that the Hong Kong SAR Government will continue to encourage and support Hong Kong youth to set their sights on the bay area and grasp the significant opportunities it offers them in their personal and career development.