Hong Kong – HKSAR Government holds talk on National 14th Five-Year Plan (with photos/video)

     The talk on the National 14th Five-Year Plan was held this morning (August 23) at the Central Government Offices. The theme of the talk was “Actively Seizing the Opportunities of the National 14th Five-Year Plan, Hong Kong to Proactively Integrate into the Country’s Overall Development”. It was attended by more than 200 guests, including a delegation led by Deputy Director of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council (HKMAO) Mr Huang Liuquan, as well as the Director of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government (LOCPG) in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), Mr Luo Huining, and representatives of the LOCPG; the governing team of the HKSAR Government, Permanent Secretaries and Heads of Departments; members of the Executive Council; the Chairman of the University Grants Committee, Mr Carlson Tong; the Chairman of the Research Grants Council, Professor Wong Yuk-shan; and Presidents of universities.
 
     The Chief Executive, Mrs Carrie Lam, said, “Every word in the National Five-Year Plan carries enormous weight. I believe everyone agrees that the National 14th Five-Year Plan will bring to Hong Kong vitality and golden opportunities. Other than the content of the Plan, the drafting process of the National 14th Five-Year Plan has left me much impressed. First, the development of Hong Kong must be closely connected with the motherland. Being reliant on the motherland and opening up to the world are imperative to the continued success of Hong Kong. Second, the Central Government have remained steadfastly supportive of Hong Kong.

     “Since the return to the motherland, Hong Kong has been covered in the National 12th Five-Year Plan and the National 13th Five-Year Plan, but what is more important than planning is implementation. Today, I am very confident in the HKSAR’s implementation of the National 14th Five-Year Plan. This is because, with the support of the Central Government, the overall situation of the HKSAR has witnessed fundamental positive development in the past year or so.”
 
     The National 14th Five-Year Plan was approved at the fourth session of the 13th National People’s Congress on March 11, 2021. It establishes a clear positioning for Hong Kong’s future development, covering three major development directions from political, economic and social perspectives. Apart from the continuous support for Hong Kong in enhancing its status as an international financial, transportation and trade centre, as well as a centre for international legal and dispute resolution services in the Asia-Pacific region, the National 14th Five-Year Plan has raised for the first time its support for Hong Kong in four emerging sectors, namely supporting Hong Kong to enhance its status as an international aviation hub and develop into an international innovation and technology hub, a regional intellectual property trading centre and a hub for arts and cultural exchanges between China and the rest of the world. It also mentions the support for high-quality Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area development. This demonstrates the confidence of the Central Government on Hong Kong’s high degree of competitiveness in many aspects and shows the Central Government’s staunch support for Hong Kong.
 
     Mrs Lam expressed gratitude for the Central Government’s unwavering support in the National 14th Five-Year Plan for Hong Kong’s development in numerous key areas, and for sending a delegation comprising officials from a number of government offices to Hong Kong to brief different sectors, enabling various sectors to accurately grasp the opportunities presented by the National 14th Five-Year Plan.
 
     Today’s talk comprised two parts, namely a speech session and a dialogue session. Mrs Lam; Mr Luo; Vice Chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) Mr Ning Jizhe; and Mr Huang addressed the talk, followed by a keynote speech delivered by a representative of the NDRC. The themes of the dialogue session included “Hong Kong as an International Financial Centre and the Development of Global Offshore Renminbi Business Hub” and “Development of an International Innovation and Technology Hub”, with the participation of relevant government officials from the Mainland and Hong Kong, members of the Executive Council, Presidents of universities, and others.
 
     The delegation was led by Mr Huang with members including representatives of the HKMAO, the NDRC, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the People’s Bank of China. Mrs Lam hosted a luncheon for the delegation at Government House after the talk this morning. During its visit to Hong Kong, the delegation will meet with different sectors, including members of the Legislative Council, representatives from the business community and youth and student representatives to introduce the contents of the National 14th Five-Year Plan and its relationship with Hong Kong, and conduct a visit programme. The Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Mr Christopher Hui; the Secretary for Innovation and Technology, Mr Alfred Sit; and the Secretary for Transport and Housing, Mr Frank Chan Fan, accompanied by representatives of the Airport Authority Hong Kong will also meet the delegation respectively to further exchange views on Hong Kong’s financial development, work on developing the city into an international innovation and technology hub and Hong Kong’s aviation development.