Hong Kong’s leader has delivered a comprehensive policy blueprint pushing for further economic reforms by expediting key infrastructure projects and doubling down on the city’s competitive strengths, while also improving livelihoods, notably charting more paths to home ownership.
In a wide-ranging speech that left no stone unturned, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu vowed to entice more high value-added industries and enterprises to the city by offering preferential policy packages. For the first time, he also floated the idea of settling government expenditure in renminbi.
He cited the improvement of people’s livelihoods as the “ultimate objective” in his more accountable governance, promised to develop artificial intelligence as a core industry, and undertook to personally lead the fast-tracked development of the Northern Metropolis.
And signalling responsiveness in light of a recent scandal, he announced a new no-nonsense accountability mechanism for senior civil servants.
“We are moving through an irreversible economic transition, but it is an essential process for a stronger and more robust economy in the future,” Lee declared in his fourth policy address before the legislature on Wednesday.
“These transformations were possible because generations of Hong Kong people have worked hard, stayed flexible and never given up. That grit is part of our DNA, and it will continue to be the engine that drives us forward.”
