Chief Executive John Lee said strong responses to the government's efforts to attract talent showed the city is highly competitive.

In an address at the founding ceremony of the NGO "Top Talent Services Association" on Thursday, Lee said more than 70,000 people have moved to Hong Kong so far this year through different talent admission schemes, adding that this is double the government's target.

He also said the government had received more than 180,000 applications for the schemes in the first 10 months of the year, of which more than 110,000 were approved.

"[Officials have been] more aggressive and spending more efforts to attract talent. The response to these targeted schemes has been good, even better than our expectations," the CE said.

"The results are encouraging and fully demonstrate that Hong Kong is highly attractive and competitive at an international level in terms of attracting top global talent."