Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu put the fight to attract global talent front and centre of Hong Kong’s strategy for recovery from the economic damage wrought by the pandemic – with good reason. The city’s workforce shrunk by 140,000 over the past two years, and the number of work visas issued fell by two-thirds over three years. Lee entrusted the initiative to a special unit headed by Chief Secretary Eric Chan Kwok-ki, and it launched an online platform just after Christmas to “trawl the world for talent”. Early results are in, and Chan has hailed them. The raw numbers are encouraging. In the first two weeks of the drive to pull in new talent, 5,800 people applied. Chan made special mention that about 800 of them earned the equivalent of at least HK$2.5 million (US$319,000) a year, the benchmark for the most desired target group. “With such a good result in the first two weeks, it proves Hong Kong is a big attraction,” Chan said. That is reassuring. Hong Kong is a global services economy and above all an international finance hub that serves as a gateway to mainland China. Failure to compete successfully for top talent would be terminal. So, after a promising start, the challenge is to keep up the momentum as competition intensifies, with the rest of the world also fighting for talent to help drive economic recovery. But it doesn’t end there. Questions remain to be answered. Is it the kind of talent the city needs – in other words, where are the areas of scarcity and those from which we would not want to displace our own residents? A laissez-faire approach to talent is also fraught with potential problems. In the interests of transparency, accountability and setting local minds at ease, the government should reveal the profiles of talented people who gain acceptance. Hong Kong developers concerned over plan to build 10,700 public flats at Kai Tak And while Hong Kong can declare its doors open again, is it able to cope with the potential influx of people and talent? In that respect, there is a case for a review to identify any shortfalls in the quality of services or infrastructure needs – whether in transport or just government operations themselves. A relaunch on the international stage is an ideal time to reflect on strengths and weaknesses.