Budget 2024: Government to expand cross-boundary data flow and services

Hong Kong will expand cross-boundary data flow to help Hong Kong and mainland residents in the Greater Bay Area access public services without needing to cross the border.

This month, the government announced it launched self-service kiosks in Shenzhen and Guangzhou where Hong Kong citizens can apply for more than 50 government services in Hong Kong.

The kiosks aim to streamline government services, promote investment in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and boost satisfaction for businesses operating cross-boundary, according to a Press Release from the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Agency.

Echo Lee, 21, from Guangzhou and studying in Hong Kong, said this policy is convenient but he is concerned about the leakage of personal information.

Ethan Deng, 19, from Shenzhen and studying in Hong Kong, said he hadn't paid much attention to this policy before and thinks it will be more convenient to apply for documents, especially identity documents.

Zong Can, 25, a cross-border worker from Shenzhen, said this policy will help bring the two places closer together, especially for residents like her who live close to Hong Kong.

Denny Deng, 26, a Hong Kong resident who works in insurance, said this policy should be helpful to the exchange of enterprises between the two places as well as the development of business, which is conducive to the flow of capital between the two places.

"In the future, I hope that we can use cross-border processing to solve more livelihood issues, such as driving licenses, tax, healthcare interoperability. Because Hong Kong is a place where privacy is very important, how to get the authorization of the person to communicate between the two places or successful cases will make the whole community have confidence," said Chau Man-kong, Executive Director of the School of Applied Policy Studies and Educational Futures at The Hong Kong Institute of Education.

"At present the two places interconnection and interoperability have been very good, and in the future I also hope that Guangdong services can be released to Hong Kong to facilitate more digital government,” said Chou.