Singapore, Hong Kong can work together to become ‘shining cities’, fill ‘special niches’: Manpower Minister Tan See Leng

The city state’s minister for manpower said he does not “necessarily subscribe” to the characterisation that the two financial hubs are in competition with one another for global talent, but sees “innate advantages” and a “special niche” that are unique to each.

Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu and Malaysia’s Deputy Minister of Investment Trade and Industry Liew Chin Tong were among the other keynote speakers at the summit.

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But the Singapore minister went to great lengths to stress that both financial hubs have different strengths.

“Hong Kong is in a prime position to be a springboard for talent growth, with its strong links to the Chinese hinterland and its central location in the Greater Bay Area, which has a gross domestic product of about US$2 trillion. And likewise, Singapore can be a springboard for talent growth into Southeast Asia,” Tan said in his opening remarks.

Hong Kong’s “aspirations” for cities like Macau, Shenzhen and Guangzhou – all part of Beijing’s ambitious Greater Bay Area plan to create a thriving global technology and economic centre around the Pearl River Delta – could also help draw global talent, Tan said.

Responding to what a collaboration between the two cities could look like, Tan said that Hong Kong and Singapore have “multiple opportunities to exchange in terms of trade” and currently have frameworks for collaboration and an understanding of how each other operate.

He said it was important that selection processes for foreign talent remain “transparent, predictable and clear”, and added that there are frameworks in place to assess how these foreign workers can complement the local workforce.

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In addition, Singapore’s government invests “significantly” in its local workforce, he said, in terms of providing training opportunities and programmes to help with career switches.

Tan said it was “combination of all these things” that will ensure “a longer term, sustainable, foreseeable future [for] our local talent” to complement foreign expertise and bring added value to the city state’s workforce.

He ended his opening remarks with a few words in Cantonese. “I hope that Singapore and Hong Kong will maintain our interconnectedness and work together to bring Asia to new heights.”

The Hong Kong-Asean Summit 2023 is organised by the South China Morning Post in partnership with the Hong Kong-Asean Foundation and the Our Hong Kong Foundation.