The Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, chaired the second meeting of the Human Resources Planning Commission this afternoon (June 25).  
      
     The Commission places great importance on nurturing home-grown talent and promoting youth upward mobility in order to complement Hong Kong’s strategic development into a high value-added and diversified economy. 
      
     In this connection, members took stock at this meeting on how education and manpower training can help meet the needs of Hong Kong’s new economy. 
      
     The meeting noted that the Government has adopted a wide range of measures with a view to better adapting the education and training system to groom talent meeting the manpower needs of the evolving society. These include reviewing the primary and secondary curricula, encouraging the post-secondary education sector to offer more programmes responding to manpower needs of relevant disciplines, and promoting vocational and professional education and training as well as continuing education. Members also shared their views on how to better align the education and training strategy with the economic development of Hong Kong based on their expertise in various sectors.
      
     At the meeting, members also discussed the manpower situation of the maritime industry. Members noted that the maritime industry, in particular the shipping sector, has been facing manpower shortage owing to difficulty in recruitment and retention as well as an ageing workforce. Members noted that to drive the long-term development of the industry, the Government established the Hong Kong Maritime and Port Board, under which the Manpower Development Committee developed a five-pronged strategy to build an adequate pool of maritime professionals with a view to supporting Hong Kong’s further development into a maritime hub. 
      
     In addition, members were updated on the progress of finalisation of the draft Talent List and the implementation of the Technology Talent Admission Scheme. Having considered the views of the relevant advisory bodies and the Legislative Council Panel on Manpower, the Talent List is being finalised and will be launched through the Quality Migrant Admission Scheme within the next few months. With regard to the Technology Talent Admission Scheme, the Government has sought the views of the Legislative Council Panel on Commerce and Industry and provided briefings to the eligible employers on the details of the Scheme. The Scheme is accepting applications from today.
     

Ends/Monday, June 25, 2018
Issued at HKT 18:51

NNNN