​The Director-General of Investment Promotion (DGIP) at Invest Hong Kong (InvestHK), Ms Alpha Lau, has embarked on her first official visit to Wuhan, Hubei Province, from February 26 to 28. During the visit, she is promoting Hong Kong's unique advantages and its role as a global supply chain management hub with local government authorities, enterprises and major development zones.
     
     On the first day of her visit to Wuhan, Ms Lau attended and spoke at a seminar themed "Hubei-Hong Kong Collaboration: Connecting the World for a Shared Future", which was jointly organised by InvestHK; the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, Hubei Sub-Council; the Department of Commerce of Hubei Province; the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Wuhan (WHETO); and the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC). The seminar commenced with welcome remarks by Ms Lau, followed by remarks from the Director of the WHETO, Miss Alice Choi; Deputy Director of the Department of Commerce of Hubei Province Ms Li Xiaoyan; and Deputy Director of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, Hubei Sub-Council Mr Shi Minghui.
     
     This marks Ms Lau's first visit as DGIP at InvestHK to Wuhan, Hubei Province. She looks forward to leveraging the economic and trade advantages between Hubei and Hong Kong to help enterprises seize opportunities in Hong Kong for growth and advancement. Ms Lau said, "Hong Kong is the largest foreign direct investment source for Hubei Province as well as its major business and trade partner. Enterprises from Hubei are also actively going global through Hong Kong. More and more Hubei enterprises are using Hong Kong as a gateway to extend their industrial and supply chains overseas, reaching new markets worldwide." She shared with corporate guests and said, "The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government aims to build a high-value-added supply chain service centre to serve both domestic and international enterprises. Hong Kong possesses robust professional service capabilities. In addition, Hong Kong offers comprehensive support for Hubei enterprises in their global expansion, particularly in legal, finance and talent." She also took the opportunity to meet with local media and elaborate on the latest business advantages of Hong Kong.
     
     Miss Choi said, "This seminar has established a communication platform for Hubei and Hong Kong in the field of supply chain management, marking another achievement under the Hubei/Hong Kong Co-operation Mechanism. We hope this event will serve as an opportunity for enterprises from both regions to join hands in exploring the global market. The WHETO will continue to act as a bridge for communication between Hong Kong and Hubei, promoting comprehensive co-operation between the two places."
     
     Mr Shi and Ms Li, representing Hubei government authorities, expressed that they will actively promote and continuously deepen economic, trade, investment, and co-operative exchanges between Hubei and Hong Kong. This will enable enterprises from both regions to fully leverage and utilise their respective advantages for further development and upgrading. Ms Li stated, "Hubei is accelerating the improvement of mechanisms to facilitate the dual circulation of domestic and international markets, advancing high-level opening-up to the outside world. Hong Kong's significant advantages in multiple fields create an excellent environment for Hubei-Hong Kong co-operation." Mr Shi added that in the coming year, efforts will focus on strengthening collaborative innovation in technology, deepening economic and trade co-operation, and enhancing complementary strengths, seeking approaches to achieve win-win opportunities between Hubei and Hong Kong.
     
     The Head of Transport & Logistics and Industrials at InvestHK, Mr Benjamin Wong, delivered a keynote presentation on Hong Kong's business advantages, encouraging Hubei enterprises to establish their global supply chain management centres in Hong Kong. He also introduced the services that InvestHK provides to assist Mainland enterprises.
     
     In the second half of the seminar, the Head of Business and Talent Attraction/Investment Promotion of the WHETO, Mr Zhou Yikai, hosted a panel discussion. Participants included the Director, Central China from the HKTDC, Ms Christie Wu; Honorary Secretary of the Hongkong Association of Freight Forwarding and Logistics Ltd, Mr Alex Koo; the Head of Cargo Chinese Mainland of Cathay Pacific Airways, Ms Wendy Ge; the General Manager of the BEA (China), Wuhan Branch, Mr Winson Lee; and Assistant to the Chairman of the Wuhan Changjiang International Trade Group Co Ltd and the Chairman of the Wuhan Changjiang Trading Company Co Ltd, Mr Bian Dakui. The discussion focused on how Hubei enterprises can fully utilise Hong Kong's platform for global supply chain management. This seminar attracted nearly 200 representatives from local enterprises, institutions, and media in Hubei Province.
     
     During the visit, Ms Lau met with the Director-General of Department of Commerce of Hubei Province, Ms Long Xiaohong, to exchange views on jointly supporting Hubei enterprises in fully utilising Hong Kong's platform to expand into international markets. Ms Lau expressed hope that through InvestHK's promotion, Hubei enterprises could gain a deeper understanding of Hong Kong's unique advantages and opportunities under the "one country, two systems" framework. As a gateway connecting the Mainland with the world, Hong Kong helps Mainland businesses expand globally while also attracting foreign investment. Ms Long welcomed the suggestion and looked forward to continuously deepening exchanges and co-operation between the two places and the two departments.
     
     Ms Lau visited the Wuhan Economic and Technological Development Zone and the Wuhan East Lake High-Tech Development Zone, where she exchanged talks with relevant officials today and tomorrow (February 27 and 28). The delegation of InvestHK visited the "Dual Intelligence" Exhibition Hall of the Wuhan National New Energy and Intelligent Connected Vehicle Demonstration Zone. After that, Member of the Standing Committee of the Wuhan Municipal Party Committee and Secretary of the Party Working Committee of Wuhan Economic and Technological Development Zone Mr Liu Ziqing, and the Director of the Development Zone Administrative Committee, Mr Tang Chao, held talks with Ms Lau. They exchanged views on assisting advanced manufacturing enterprises in leveraging Hong Kong to optimise their multinational supply chain management and expressed their commitment to deepening communication and co-operation.
     
     During the visit to the development zones, Ms Lau visited leading enterprises from key industries, including advanced manufacturing, digital publishing, and high-tech sectors such as life sciences, low-altitude economy, and intelligent connected vehicles. She discussed with company representatives to understand and explore their plans for establishing or expanding operations in Hong Kong. "The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government is committed to promoting innovation and technology development. With a thriving innovation and technology ecosystem and abundant opportunities, Hong Kong provides an ideal environment for Mainland advanced manufacturing and high-tech enterprises looking to expand globally. We encourage Hubei enterprises to leverage Hong Kong's new opportunities to establish their research and development centres, computing power hubs, and global management hubs," Ms Lau said.

          

     The "Quarterly Report on General Household Survey" for October to December 2024 is now available for access and download.
 
     The report contains statistics on labour force, employment, unemployment and underemployment for the fourth quarter of 2024. It also contains detailed analyses of the characteristics of different categories of members of the labour force, including their age, sex, educational attainment, employment status, occupation, industry, hours worked per week and monthly employment earnings, etc. Information on duration of unemployment for the unemployed is also presented.
 
     Users can browse and download the report at the website of the Census and Statistics Department (www.censtatd.gov.hk/en/EIndexbySubject.html?pcode=B1050001&scode=200).
 
     The summary of broad survey findings published in the report is shown in Table 1 attached. Enquiries about the contents of the report can be directed to the General Household Survey Section (3), Census and Statistics Department (Tel: 2887 5508 or email: ghs@censtatd.gov.hk).

The following is issued on behalf of the University Grants Committee:
 
     The Quality Assurance Council (QAC) under the University Grants Committee (UGC) today (February 27) published the report on the quality audit of the Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK) in the third audit cycle.
      
     The EdUHK was the seventh university audited in the third audit cycle, which places an emphasis on how individual universities review and enhance their frameworks on academic standards and academic quality, academic programme development, teaching and learning, student learning assessments and support for students, as well as the collection, analysis and usage of data to inform such quality assurance processes.
      
     The audit report presents the findings of the audit panel appointed by the QAC based on the self-evaluation report prepared by the EdUHK and a series of audit meetings with staff, students and external stakeholders (such as employers) of the university held in May and June 2024. The audit report was endorsed by the UGC after being considered by the QAC.
      
     The report identified a number of good practice features with a view to encouraging the EdUHK and the higher education sector as a whole to strive for continuous enhancement to their quality assurance regimes. The full audit report with the formal response from the EdUHK is available on the QAC website (www.ugc.edu.hk/eng/qac/about/term/publications/report.html) for public access.
      
     The QAC quality audits ascertain whether the arrangements for quality assurance adopted by universities are fit for purpose and comparable with international best practices. The QAC third audit cycle covers all programmes at the levels of sub-degree, first degree and above, however funded, leading to a qualification wholly or partly awarded by the UGC-funded universities.
          
     The QAC expressed gratitude to the EdUHK and all stakeholders for their support for the quality audit.    

     Following is the speech by the Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry, Professor Sun Dong, at the AI Action Summit 2025 – AI STR (Safety, Trust, and Responsibility) Forum organised by Cyberport and the World Digital Technology Academy (WDTA) and the International Academicians Science & Technology Innovation Centre today (February 27):

尊敬的葉副部長 (Deputy Director-General of the Department of Educational, Scientific and Technological Affairs of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Mr Ye Shuiqiu), Professor Li (Executive Chairman of the WDTA, Professor Yale Li), Professor Chan (Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and Academician of the WDTA, Professor C C Chan), Simon (Chairman of the Board of Directors of Hong Kong Cyberport Management Company Limited, Mr Simon Chan), Rocky (Chief Executive Officer of Hong Kong Cyberport Management Company Limited, Dr Rocky Cheng), Tony (Commissioner for Digital Policy, Mr Tony Wong), distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,

     â€‹Good morning. I am delighted to join you all today at AI STR Forum, jointly organised by Cyberport and the World Digital Technology Academy. 
 
     The Forum today will immerse into exciting discussions on AI and the associated safety, trust and responsibility issues. Undoubtedly, AI is the most pivotal engine of scientific, economic and social advancements around the globe.

     â€‹In Hong Kong, we attach great importance and devote significant resources to driving AI on various fronts. AI and data science is one of our development focus areas as underscored in the Hong Kong Innovation and Technology Development Blueprint promulgated in December 2022. Echoing the nation’s "AI+" initiative and strategic direction to cultivate new quality productive forces and build a globally competitive digital industry cluster, Hong Kong is taking steps to consolidate our strengths and capitalise on the emerging opportunities in AI research, innovation and application.
 
     To provide the most conducive environment for AI development, Cyberport, being Hong Kong's digital tech hub, established the AI Supercomputing Centre (AISC) last year, which will provide high-performance computing power of 3 000 petaFLOPS to support impactful R&D (research and development) projects on AI.
 
     The Government is also subsidising users of Cyberport’s AISC, through the $3 billion AI Subsidy Scheme, to make the much sought-after computing power more accessible. This financial assistance already benefits local R&D projects on large language models (LLM), material science and environmental assessment that will break new ground of AI.
 
     Let's not forget our InnoHK research clusters. A total of 16 AI and robotics-specific research centres are set up under AIR@InnoHK, including the Hong Kong Generative AI Research and Development Center (HKGAI) which focuses on generative AI technologies. The HKGAI is now running at full steam in developing a Hong Kong-based LLM and a generative AI document processing copilot application together with a few application tools. The latter is now being used internally by government bureaus and departments on a pilot basis to handle tasks such as document drafting, translation and summary.
 
     This long list would go incomplete without mentioning our latest endeavour, as announced yesterday by the Financial Secretary in the 2025-26 Budget, to establish the Hong Kong AI R&D Institute. A dedicated, public mission-driven undertaking, the institute will spearhead AI development and industry application in Hong Kong, promote cross-sectoral collaboration, and add another exciting chapter in our AI history book.
 
     As we navigate in the boundless realms of AI, we are mindful of the safety, responsibility and trust issues that beset AI explorers and users. We could only harness the full power and potential of AI by addressing these contentious issues proactively. The Forum and the wise men here with us today will give much insights into these hot topics. I look forward to the exchanges and the food for thought.
 
     In closing, I wish the Forum a great success and every one of you the most fruitful and inspiring sharing. Thank you.

  

     The Lands Department today (February 27) posted land resumption notices in accordance with section 4 of the Lands Resumption Ordinance (Chapter 124) for the implementation of public housing development in Area 33, Tung Chung.
      
     Fifteen private lots with a total area of about 4 700 square metres will be resumed. The said land will revert to the Government upon the expiry of a period of three months from the date of affixing the notices (i.e. May 28).
      
     The Government will maintain close liaison with the relevant land owners and affected parties, and properly handle their compensation and rehousing matters.