HK to expand mainland training scheme for civil servants

Hong Kong's civil servants will soon do temporary stints in the Guangdong provincial and Shenzhen municipal government departments, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor told a China Central Television program on Monday night.

Lam said the special administrative region's government will sign agreements with its provincial and municipal counterparts on the Chinese mainland without providing any specific timetable for the plan.

The city's leader said that the move aims to increase Hong Kong public officers' understanding of the mainland by closely monitoring how their counterparts are doing city management.

Lam said that the mainland authorities will reciprocate by sending officials to Hong Kong on an exchange basis and for training purposes.

Lam said the scheme, which previously included Beijing and Shanghai as its main partners, shifted focus to the mainland cities within the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, as Hong Kong is actively integrating itself into the development of the country through the regional project.

Last month, Secretary for the Civil Service Patrick Nip Tak-kuen told a Legislative Council meeting that the bureau is considering requiring civil servants to complete at least one training program on the mainland as part of a three-year probation period before they can be offered permanent employment.