share on
Big announcements include the first Statutory Minimum Wage (SMW) rate in 2026, longer recruitment process for locals in F&B sector, and attracting more companies to set up operations in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee just delivered the 2025 Policy Address to the Legislative Council (LegCo) today (17 September 2025).
The theme for this year's Policy Address is "deepening reforms for our people, leveraging our strengths for a brighter future.” In his earlier statement, Lee emphasised that the SAR Government “will enhance Hong Kong’s competitiveness, boost the economy and improve livelihoods, driving reform and innovation.”
The cover colour of this year’s Policy Address also remains green, representing vitality and continuity. It reflects the SAR Government’s commitment to sustained prosperity and progress, and its vision of moving Hong Kong forward toward a brighter future.
Here are the six big takeaways for HR and business leaders to take note of.
Attracting and developing new industries
To promote the diversified development of Hong Kong's economy, Lee said the Government will step up its efforts to nurture emerging industries locally and attract those from outside Hong Kong. At the same time, it will strengthen talent training.
He revealed that the Government has reached an agreement of intent with a leading European aeronautic services company to operate in Hong Kong. The company will provide aircraft dismantling, as well as recycling and trading services of high-value parts. This will drive the development of industries such as trading, insurance, financing and leasing, creating new job opportunities through the sector's value chain.
The company will also collaborate with the Hong Kong International Aviation Academy to provide talent training in relevant professions, which will in turn consolidate Hong Kong's status as an international aviation hub.
On the other hand, the Government will attract more pharmaceutical companies to set up operations in Hong Kong to conduct clinical trials and medical treatments for rare disease drugs, high-end cancer drugs and advanced therapy products. Concurrently, the Government will prepare to set up the International Clinical Trial Academy for nurturing clinical trial professionals in the Greater Bay Area (GBA) and host international summits and forums.
The Financial Secretary will lead the relevant policy bureaux, departments, and public organisations in formulating packages of preferential policies including land grants, land premiums, financial subsidies, and tax incentives, to attract high value-added industries and high-potential enterprises to set up in Hong Kong, thereby promoting high-quality development.
Supporting small and medium enterprises
Lee said the Government will introduce 11 measures to enhance support for SMEs, including :
- Extend the application period for the 80% Guarantee Product under the SME Financing Guarantee Scheme for two years, and further extend the principal moratorium arrangement for one year.
- Reduce water and sewage charges for non-domestic accounts by 50%, subject to a monthly ceiling of HK$10,000 and HK$5,000 respectively per account; reduce the trade effluent surcharge by 50%; and waive fees for the first issue or renewal of licences and permits, including those for hawkers, food businesses, agriculture and fisheries industries and liquor licences. The above measures will be implemented for one year.
- Earmark an additional HK$30bn in the next two to three years to increase expenditure on works projects driving sustained economic development, to support the local construction industry.
- Inject HK$1.43bn into the BUD Fund and expand its geographical scope to cover eight more economies, including Belt and Road (B&R) countries. The Government will also enhance promotion and facilitate the participation of companies in exhibitions and export marketing activities through "Easy BUD".
- Increase financing support for local e-commerce businesses and expanding the coverage of free buyer credit checks through the Hong Kong Export Credit Insurance Corporation.
- Set up the "Economic and Trade Express", joining the efforts of Economic and Trade Offices (ETOs) and overseas offices of InvestHK and the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) to form a functional platform, encouraging local SMEs and start-ups to conduct more overseas visits exploring business opportunities, while bringing in more enterprises to invest in and establish businesses in Hong Kong.
- Enhance Cyberport's Digital Transformation Support Pilot Programme to provide SMEs with subsidies, on a matching basis, to empower enterprises to apply AI and cybersecurity solutions, boosting their competitiveness and information security.
- Strengthen training and information services through the four SME centres, the Mentorship Programme of the Trade and Industry Department and the E-Commerce Express under the HKTDC. The "Creativity • E-commerce – Beyond Limits" programme will also be implemented to provide one-stop business matching and referral services.
- Launch a two-year pilot scheme to support local small and medium I&T enterprises with patent evaluation.
Embracing AI adoption
Lee mentioned that the Government has bolstered its efforts to nurture local and attract overseas and Mainland AI professionals. Relevant measures include setting up the AIR@InnoHK research cluster that pooled over a thousand experts. Combined with nearly a thousand AI companies that have gathered in our I&T parks, this helps enhance Hong Kong’s AI R&D capabilities and lay the foundations for wide-ranging AI applications.
The Government earlier announced the launch of the HK$3bn Frontier Technology Research Support Scheme. It will help funded universities attract international top-notch scientific researchers in AI and other fields to Hong Kong to spearhead basic research in frontier technologies. The scheme will invite applications soon.
HK$1bn has also been earmarked for the establishment of the Hong Kong AI Research and Development Institute in 2026, to facilitate upstream AI R&D, the midstream and downstream R&D outcome, and the expansion of use cases.
To further enhance the efficacy of the Government, Lee will set up an AI Efficacy Enhancement Team to co-ordinate and steer government departments to apply AI technology effectively to their work. Other areas such as process re-engineering will also be explored, to promote technological reform in departments.
Strengthening youth development and nurturing talent
The Government will also enhance the talent policy to attract technical professionals with specified skills to Hong Kong, promote the flow of talents between the industry and academic sectors, and strengthen the Hong Kong Talent Engage (HKTE)'s efforts in talent attraction and support. This will help build Hong Kong into an international hub for high-calibre talents.
The Government will continue to implement various talent policies to ensure Hong Kong's long-term competitiveness to drive sustained economic growth.
In terms of youth development, the Government will launch a Young Talent Training Programme to provide more opportunities for young people to participate in the internships of international organisations and attend international conferences. A new media thematic internship programme will be introduced in the Mainland, the Youth Financial Education Programme will be strengthened, and new mediation workshops will be launched to enhance young people's understanding of the mediation industry.
The Home and Youth Affairs Bureau (HYAB) will continue to implement the HYAB Funding Scheme for Youth Exchange in the Mainland and the HYAB Funding Scheme for International Youth Exchange, and encourage young people from the Mainland and overseas to visit Hong Kong on exchange.
The Government will launch the Innovation and Technology Talents Exchange Scheme for Industry and Academic Sectors, encouraging university professors to engage in corporate R&D activities for a better grasp of industry needs. Senior management of technology enterprises and technical experts will also be invited to teach and help develop curriculum, strengthening the collaborative development of Hong Kong's industry, academic and research sectors.
The number of non-funded places for non-local students to study in Hong Kong on a self-financing basis will be increased. Starting from the 2026/27 academic year, the enrolment ceiling for self-financing non-local students of each funded post-secondary institution will be raised from the level currently equivalent to 40% of local student places to 50%; and the over-enrolment ceiling of self-financing places of funded research postgraduate programmes will be increased from 100% to 120%.
The Education Bureau (EDB) will establish the Task Force on Study in Hong Kong, bringing together the University Grants Committee (UGC), the Innovation, Technology and Industry Bureau (ITIB), the HKTE, post-secondary institutions, ETOs, the Mainland Offices etc. to step up the promotion of higher education in Hong Kong.
The Government will continue exploring with Mainland authorities the implementation of the mutual recognition of sub-degree level qualifications between Hong Kong and the Mainland. This aims to facilitate cross-boundary job-seeking and the pursuit of further studies by graduates of vocational and professional programmes in both places.
Supporting and protecting labour
To ensure the employment priority of local workers and combat the abuse of the Enhanced Supplementary Labour Scheme (ESLS), starting 18 September 2025, when applying to import waiters/waitresses and junior cooks under the ESLS, employers are required to extend the local recruitment process from four weeks to six weeks, during which they must once a week attend an on-site job fair organised by the Labour Department (LD). LD will implement the manning ratio requirement more stringently. An employer applying to import a waiter/waitress and a junior cook must have already employed two local full-time waiters/waitresses and two local full-time junior cooks.
The Government will step up efforts to combat illegal employment, establish a dedicated hotline for reporting illegal workers, and strengthen intelligence collection and inter-departmental joint enforcement operations to safeguard the employment opportunities of local workers.
In addition, the Government will reform the Employees Retraining Board (ERB), aiming to assist members of the workforce, from all backgrounds and educational attainments, to enhance their skills and competitiveness on a continuous basis, to meet the needs of economic and industrial development in Hong Kong.
The ERB has enhanced such services as training and career planning since early this year, and outlined an initial reform roadmap for the next three years. The ERB will strengthen its industry consultative mechanism, and identify demand for and gaps in core skills in a targeted manner to devise a skills-based training framework. It will collaborate with higher education institutions and guide other training bodies in developing courses of various types and levels to fill the skill gaps.
In future, the ERB will also launch micro-credential courses recognised by industries to offer greater flexibility to trainees, and make good use of technology to offer diversified and flexible modes of learning.
When the ERB finalises the full implementation by the end of this year, the Government will amend the Employees Retraining Ordinance accordingly.
Regarding labour support, the LD will optmise the Re-employment Allowance Pilot Scheme, conducting a mid-term review in the first quarter of next year, along with the Employment Programme for the Elderly and Middle-aged, to explore measures promoting silver employment.
The Government will set the first Statutory Minimum Wage (SMW) rate according to the new annual review mechanism. The first SMW rate derived under the new mechanism is expected to take effect on 1 May 2026.
The Government will improve the work injury compensation mechanism for digital platform workers through legislation, and continue to make good use of the Tripartite Committee for the Digital Platform Industry to discuss issues of concern to the stakeholders.
The LD will continue to step up inspection and enforcement, promotion and publicity, as well as education and training, to build a stronger occupational safety and health (OSH) culture and reduce accidents. The department will also make good use of innovative technologies and AI, such as using drones to enhance inspection and evidence collection, and support the industry in developing technology products that enhance OSH.
Promoting women's development and encouraging birth rate
Lee also outlined measures to promote women's development and encourage birth rate.
To promote women's development, the Government will increase the annual funding of the Women Empowerment Fund from HK$20mn to HK$30mn to subsidise women's organisations and NGOs launching projects that promote women's development. The Government will also host the second Family and Women Development Summit Hong Kong next year.
To promote fertility, further measures will be implemented under the multi-pronged policy approach to promote fertility. They include:
- Extend the claim period of additional child allowance for newborns from one year to two years. Starting from the year of assessment 2026/27, a taxpayer may claim twice the allowance (i.e. $260,000) for each child in the first two years following childbirth. This measure is applicable to all children under the age of two by the end of the year of assessment.
- To further enhance infant and child day care service, fifteen new aided child care centres (CCCs) will be set up over the next three years to provide about 1,500 day care service places for children between birth and three years old, almost doubling the existing supply. The Social Welfare Department (SWD) will also allocate more care-service places for infants and toddlers from birth to two years, as appropriate.
- Enhance the School-based After School Care Service Scheme within this school year by removing the cap on the number of places to make it easier for parents to take up jobs.
- To support assisted reproductive services, the Council on Human Reproductive Technology has made amendments to the legislation, removing the statutory storage periods of gametes and embryos for own use, offering greater flexibility to people who wish to give birth. The amendments will take effect from this December. Moreover, the Hospital Authority (HA) will continue to increase the service quota for assisted reproductive service from 1,100 treatment cycles two years ago to 1,500 treatment cycles in 2025-26.
- The Government will continue to encourage more employers, through the Good Employer Charter, to adopt family-friendly employment practices that are conducive to childcare, such as flexible working hours.
Photo / HKSAR Government Press Releases
share on
