The Census and Statistics Department figures released on Tuesday showed that the value of the city’s exports fell to HK$367.2 billion (US$46.8 billion) in March, tapering off to a 1.5 per cent year on year decrease helped by a rebound in demand from the United States and the European Union.

Chan revealed that a recent Australian business delegation was “very interested in Hong Kong and its role in the bay area”.

“We introduced Hong Kong’s advantages under the ‘new era’ to them, including how they can make use of the city to tap into the bay area market. The delegation was very interested,” said Chan, adding it was one of many groups to visit the city recently.

The bay area refers to the Beijing’s plan to link Hong Kong and Macau with nine cities in Guangdong province to form an integrated economic and business hub.

Hong Kong’s jobless rate drops to 3.1 per cent, marking 12th straight decline

Secretary for Development Bernadette Linn Hon-ho, who also attended Wednesday’s meeting with lawmakers, said legislators had expressed “strong support” for the government’s innovative approaches to cutting red tape for land planning and allocation.

“If we really hope to attract top leading enterprises to come to Hong Kong, we might need to consider different models. When it comes to allocating land, sometimes we can consider direct approval or limited competition, apart from just letting the highest bidder win,” Linn said.

“The government adopts an open attitude towards the system. We will carefully access the system with data we collect, including marketing, safety and application figures [from the manufacturer], to consider if it’s feasible to use in the city,” Lam said.

Lawmakers on Saturday visited the headquarters of the manufacturing giant, best known for its electric vehicles, as part of a four-day trip to the bay area. The carmaker took the opportunity to introduce legislators to SkyShuttle, its battery-powered and fully autonomous rail transit system.

Chan also attended the Legislative Council’s discussion on the budget bill in the afternoon, during which he proposed spending HK$761 billion on post-Covid recovery, including a range of relief measures such as the distribution of consumption vouchers and providing help to first-time homebuyers.

While expressing support for the bill, lawmaker and Executive Council convenor Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee suggested the government come up with an all-rounded package of policies to develop the innovation and technology industry.

“The policy package should focus on providing favourable conditions in land use, tax incentives and importation of labour and technicians, in a bid to attract leading hi-tech companies to settle in Hong Kong,” Ip said.

Ip, along with lawmakers Lai Tung-kwok and Kingsley Wong Kwok, expressed concern about the city’s declining population. Ip urged departments to carry out population projections, while Wong and Lai called for incentives to boost the birth rate and policies to release stay-at-home women into the workforce.

Centrist lawmaker Tik Chi-yuen was the only one who said he would not support the bill as 1 per cent of funding was cut in the social welfare sector he represents.

“I want to stress that if the bill does not answer the needs of Hong Kong society, it is the lawmakers’ responsibility to reject it,” Tik said, adding that spending in the social welfare sector had been cut since 2000.

Lawmaker David Lam Tzit-yuen from the medical and health services said his sector was “pleased” to see the government’s move in raising tobacco tax by 31 per cent and other attempts to improve primary medical care.