Wednesday's official announcement of the central government's approval of Chief Executive-designate Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor's full leadership team paved the way for smooth operation of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government after the July 1 administration change.

The line-up of the new governing team, which mostly comprises incumbents and promotees from within the current administration, many of whom have been working partners of Lam for years in the government, will spare the crew the need for a long running-in period.

That is good news for Hong Kong but can barely help lighten the daunting tasks awaiting them. Indeed, the new leading team is in for some of the greatest challenges the SAR has ever faced since its establishment in July 1997. Hong Kong society is engaged in an uphill battle against a slew of socio-economic problems as well as political bickering, which have accumulated over the years and grown to the extent that social harmony has been undermined and economic prosperity threatened.

For this very reason, expectations are high for the incoming governing team. It is the hope of Hong Kong people that the new leadership team will carry on the good policies of the current administration and put in further effort to tackle the pressing problems the city now confronts, including a severe housing shortage, a widening wealth gap and low social upward mobility and insufficient career opportunities for young people.

By successfully resolving or at least alleviating these problems, the new administration will have a bigger chance to mend the social divides that now threaten social stability and economic prosperity. Lam has rightly included housing, education and economic development in her policy priority list. There is no arguing that creating a bigger economic pie is the only way to solve some of those deep-seated problems. Given the constraints of Hong Kong's small economic base, the new administration is expected to promote further economic integration with the mainland economy by participating in major national development strategies such as the Belt and Road Initiative and Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area project.

But the road ahead will prove rocky for the new administration for sure after the Legislative Council took in more radical opposition members in the last election. Hopefully, the new governing style Lam has promised to adopt when in office and the appointment of Law Chi-kwong, a former Democratic Party member and social-policy scholar, as secretary for labour and welfare would help improve the government's relationship with the opposition as well as executive-legislative relations.

The central government, as well as the people of the nation, also have high hopes for the SAR's new leading team, who are expected to steadfastly uphold "One Country, Two Systems" and safeguard national interests by unhesitatingly fighting separatism in Hong Kong.

(HK Edition 06/22/2017 page1)