Sustainable economy key to HK's future

Address land issues

Besides providing affordable housing, the SAR administration should intervene to reduce land costs because it trims Hong Kong's competitiveness.

"The main problem for Hong Kong is the high cost of essentially doing business, and you have to reduce it (high land costs). Policy intervention is key. Land access is key. All of those things essentially drive Hong Kong's costs and reduce competitiveness," Nair said.

The second pillar of a resilient economy is providing education that can make Hong Kong youths more suitable for a wider spectrum of job opportunities. To provide an array of job positions, the Hong Kong government has to create a more-diversified economy.

The third recipe is utilizing technologies to revolutionize existing industries and, in due course, it can create new job opportunities.

Nair said Singapore wants to reduce the ratio of food imports from 90 percent to 70 percent to combat the vulnerability of global supply chains. The city-state is investing in food technology, but it is not the technology just to have another app for more food deliveries. Rather, it's the technology to monitor the water supply carbon footprint and the nutritional value of foods, as well as to retrofit buildings to provide rooftop gardens to revolutionize urban landscapes.

"You know how many jobs that will be created through research and development. It will be mainstream and become businesses, then you can mandate that too. So then you have laws; then we have innovation from a different side to actually solve a real problem and a target," Nair said.