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EIU's Ranking for HK Unduly Pessimistic: Leung
Hong Kong Financial Secretary Antony Leung Tuesday dismissed a downgrade of the business environment ranking as "unduly pessimistic."
Leung's comments came after the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) business environment ranking put Hong Kong to number 10 in the world over the next five years.
The financial secretary said, "I think the EIU has been unduly pessimistic." But he added that he thought one point that they have raised is worth considering and that is, the mismatch of the talents that are being required in a knowledge economy versus the talents that we have today.
"That explains why the Chief Executive has placed so much emphasis on education reform in the last four years and why we have changed our immigration policy to attract more talents to Hong Kong," Leung said.
Knowledge decides the future of Hong Kong as well as the future of every individual, he said. "We have to ensure that all our citizens, students and adults would pursue life-long learning, would be able to communicate well in both English as well as in Chinese, would be able to think independently, critically and creatively as well as having commitment to one's society as well as the nation."
"All of these, I think, would answer the worry of the EIU," Leung stressed. "So in short, in order to compete successfully in the knowledge economy, we must pursue education reform vigorously as well as import more talents into Hong Kong," he added.
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