Govt is actively pursuing growth and development: CS
Chief Secretary Eric Chan on Sunday said Hong Kong is switching from defence to offence, following the Covid-19 epidemic and social unrest in 2019, and will now concentrate on the economy. "During the year of black violence and a three-year pandemic, we have been focused on guarding national security, maintaining Hong Kong's security and stability, protecting the health of citizens, and preventing the economy from falling too far," he said on an RTHK programme. "But now, we need to shift from defence to offence and explore ways to attract enterprises, attract more talent, and continue the upward trajectory of Hong Kong. This will make citizens happier," he said. The Chief Secretary added that he feels citizens are happier than before and vowed to attract more enterprises and talent to the city. Chan also said it had been a busy year as the government has implemented many new policies. He said he believes that Hongkongers will see the reopening of borders as the administration's most significant achievement so far. "How could you ensure that Hong Kong people going to the mainland pose no pandemic risk [there]? We had to work on that because the mainland's epidemic prevention policies were much stricter than ours," he said.  Chan pointed out that the number of visitors to Hong Kong last year was only 600,000, while in the first five months of this year alone, there have been over 10 million visitors.