Speech by FS at Reception in Celebration of 127th Anniversary of Proclamation of Philippine Independence
Following is the speech by the Financial Secretary, Mr Paul Chan, at the Reception in Celebration of the 127th Anniversary of the Proclamation of Philippine Independence today (June 12):
Consul General Israel (Consul-General of the Philippines in Hong Kong, Mr Romulo Victor Manzano Israel), Deputy Commissioner Pan Yundong (Deputy Commissioner of the Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region), consuls-general, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,
Good evening. It is a great pleasure to join you tonight in celebrating the 127th anniversary of the Republic of the Philippines' proclamation of independence.
Let me take this opportunity to extend a formal and warm welcome to Consul General Israel, who assumed his new post in Hong Kong this April. With your extensive diplomatic career in the Philippines and abroad, I am confident that your experience and insight will further help strengthen the close ties between Hong Kong and the Philippines.
I had the honour of attending this reception last year, where I spoke about the strong and growing connections between our two economies. One year on, I am pleased to see that our bilateral relationship continues to deepen and expand.
Tourism is a shining example. Last year, we welcomed nearly 1.2 million visitors from the Philippines, a remarkable increase of over 55 per cent compared to 2023. This positive momentum has continued, with over 550 000 Filipino visitors arriving in the first five months of this year, representing a 27 per cent year-on-year growth.
Our trade relationship remains robust. Hong Kong plays a vital role as a gateway for China's exports to the Philippines. Hong Kong is the Philippines'fifth largest trading partner. Last year, our value of merchandise trade grew to HK$108 billion. Hong Kong handled around 13 per cent of the total merchandise trade between China and the Philippines.
Besides, I am pleased to note that we have started negotiations on a Comprehensive Avoidance of Double Taxation Agreement. I trust such an agreement will further simulate our bilateral trade and investments.
All these encouraging developments point to a future of even closer business ties and new opportunities for collaboration.
The Philippines stands out as one of the fastest-growing economies in ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations). I am pleased to learn that your Government is making proactive efforts to implement pro-business reforms to simplify company formation process, lower entry barriers and attract foreign businesses. These measures will facilitate trade and investments with your economic and trade partners. Meanwhile, more infrastructure flagship projects will bolster the economy, improve connectivity and make your country more attractive to businesses from abroad.
In an era marked by rising protectionism and increasing geopolitical uncertainty, globalisation is facing backlashes. Countries are seeking to diversify their export markets and development drivers. In this context, enhancing intra-regional trade and collaboration will be key to achieving sustainable growth. In this connection, we greatly appreciate the Philippines' continued support for our accession to the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).
Under the "one country, two systems" arrangement, Hong Kong is a "super connector" and "super value-adder" between the Chinese Mainland and the rest of the world. We steadfastly uphold our free port status, with the free movement of goods, capital, information and talent. Our world-class transport and logistics infrastructure provides a perfect springboard for your country's products and services to reach the Mainland, across North Asia, and beyond.
Now, given the policy uncertainties in the US and shifting global investment landscape, Hong Kong has emerged as a safe harbour for international capital. This is reflected by capital inflows and investors' optimism. Our stock market has performed exceptionally well, rising by 20 per cent so far this year, on top of the 18 per cent increase last year. It is one of the top-performing markets globally.
With deep liquidity and a comprehensive suite of funding options, Hong Kong offers an ideal platform for Filipino enterprises to raise funds to support their business development. They can consider listing on our Stock Exchange, or connecting with angel investors, venture capital and private equity for collaboration.
For sure, Hong Kong has more to offer. You will find Hong Kong an ideal location to raise funds for quality infrastructure and green transition projects. Beyond traditional means, such as bond issuance, there are innovative financing models such as infrastructure loan securitisation, or catastrophe bonds, which are designed to share natural disaster risks with investors. Hong Kong has already issued seven catastrophe bonds, covering events from earthquakes to storms across Asia and the Americas.
In short, the potential for deeper co-operation between our two economies is vast and far-reaching.
Before I conclude, I would like to express my heartfelt appreciation to the more than 220 000 Filipino nationals in Hong Kong. They are an integral part of our community and have made invaluable contributions to the economic and social fabric of this city.
On behalf of the Hong Kong SAR Government, I extend my warmest congratulations to the people of the Philippines on your Independence Day. May the friendship between Hong Kong and the Philippines continue to flourish and prosper for years to come.
I wish you all a most enjoyable evening. Thank you very much.
Speech by FS at Reception in Celebration of 127th Anniversary of Proclamation of Philippine Independence Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases
Speech by FS at Reception in Celebration of 127th Anniversary of Proclamation of Philippine Independence Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases
Speech by FS at CUHK EMBA Annual Conference
Following is the speech by the Financial Secretary, Mr Paul Chan, at the CUHK EMBA Annual Conference today (May 9):
Professor Dennis Lo (Vice-Chancellor and President, the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK)), Professor Lin Zhou (Dean, CUHK Business School), Macy (Chairperson of Organizing Committee, Ms Macy Chan), Michael (Chairperson of Organizing Committee, Mr Michael Chan), CUHK EMBA alumni and students, business leaders, distinguished guests and friends,
Good evening.
Addressing a room full of Executive MBA students and graduates is both an honour and a privilege. There is a particular kind of ambition in this room — one that is not content with success alone, but driven to understand it more deeply, in the belief that better ideas lead to greater impact.
That kind of commitment — to learning, to growth, to asking harder questions — is precisely what today's conversation is about.
The theme of this conference, which focuses on innovation and agile leadership, could not be more timely. Most of us here have lived through the Internet age and the smartphone revolution, which made communication faster and more seamless than anyone had imagined.
Today, the rise of AI places us at a more fundamental tipping point. Technology is not merely changing the answers — it is redefining the questions themselves.
Consider what is already within reach. An AI assistant can learn your preferences, curate a personalised shortlist, and simply ask for your confirmation. We should even ask whether the smartphone and the search engine will remain our primary gateways to the digital world, or whether something altogether new is already taking shape.
To draw an analogy, the power of technology does not lie in drawing the old map with greater precision. It lies in revealing how much of that map remains uncharted — and in showing us that entirely new maps, with new co-ordinates, are being drawn.
This redefinition is unfolding across three dimensions simultaneously.
First, the redefinition of products. Products are no longer discrete, standalone objects. A smart car is a vehicle, but also a mobile platform for data. An insurance policy can be a contract, but equally a dynamic reflection of health data. Innovation today is born from cross-sector convergence and continuous evolution.
Second, the redefinition of services. Services are no longer delivered solely by enterprises. They emerge from collaborative networks of people and AI. But the more profound shift is in what customers now expect. In the past, good service meant reaching the right person quickly. Today, customers expect a solution that anticipates their needs before articulating them. This requires a new architecture of service delivery: human and machine, with AI handling the scale, the speed, and the personalisation that no human team alone could sustain.
Third, and most importantly, the redefinition of business models. In the past, we sought optimal solutions within established frameworks — when demand rose, we expanded capacity; when service needs grew, we opened more branches. Technology invites us to break out of those frameworks entirely. Intelligent manufacturing means that "economies of scale" is no longer the only answer; flexible supply chains have made customised, on-demand production the new normal.
These three redefinitions are opening a commercial frontier unlike anything we have seen before. But if the benefits of technology accrue only to a small circle, its power remains fundamentally constrained. This brings me to the second message I want to leave with you today: inclusivity.
Inclusivity is not charity. Yet it is the smartest business strategy available. The unmet needs of the broader public represent the largest and most underserved market opportunity in existence. When you make quality healthcare, education and financial services accessible and affordable to ordinary residents, you are not serving a group in need of handouts — you are unlocking a vast market that traditional business models have consistently overlooked.
Hong Kong has a distinctive role to play here. We can be a co-architect of standards, a hub for capital, and a bridge between innovation and real-world deployment — from clinical validation of smart healthcare, to green technology financing, to regulatory sandboxes for fintech. Our contribution draws not only on institutional strengths and international networks, but on our genuine commitment to broad-based participation.
Yet inclusive products and services are only the first step. The deeper dimension is empowerment.
History reminds us that the dividends of technological revolution need to be actively guided to reach the many. In the age of steam, and again in the Internet era, early gains concentrated among capital owners and top-tier talent. But today we have the opportunity to write a different story. AI, as an amplifier of human capability, is already enabling what was previously unimaginable: a solo entrepreneur, with the right tools and the right vision, can build a unicorn.
In other words, the unit of competitive advantage is shifting — from the size of your team to the skill with which you orchestrate your tools.
Our mission should be to make that shift available to everyone. To turn individual readiness into collective prosperity, and to ensure that the productivity gains of AI flow broadly across the society.
This is precisely why, in this year's Budget, I placed such emphasis on the "AI Training for All" initiative.
We are not trying to turn everyone into an engineer. We are ensuring that workers, managers, SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) owners, and ordinary residents become capable collaborators with AI: people who can access it, use it effectively, and put it to work as their assistant.
That may sound ambitious, but consider this: if AI can one day be as intuitive as the smartphone, then mass adoption is not difficult to imagine at all. Just as computers once migrated from specialist facilities into offices and homes, AI will find its way into everyone's daily work and life.
For business leaders, it may be tempting to think of AI as "digital employee" that can replace existing workers. But think of a different framing: equipping your workforce with powerful digital assistants can achieve productivity gains, while also freeing your people to do what humans do best — create, imagine and innovate.
Companies that take those extra steps, and think those extra moves ahead, will find that an empowered workforce is also a more innovative one.
All in all, the power of technology must ultimately be measured by its contribution to inclusive growth. And inclusive growth, in the end, depends on, yes, commercial acumen — but also empathy, compassion, and the conviction that a rising tide should lift all boats. I can see that those qualities live in this room.
I will close with this thought. Someone once joked that economists know the price of everything and the value of nothing. With AI, let us never fall into the same trap — in our race to price every efficiency gain, let us not lose sight of the deeper value we are trying to create: a society where the fruits of innovation are broadly shared, and where technology lifts not just the fortunate few, but everyone willing to reach for it.
So here is my ask: let us grow the pie together. And make sure we cut it well.
Thank you very much.
Source: AI-found images
Speech by FS at CUHK EMBA Annual Conference Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases
Speech by FS at CUHK EMBA Annual Conference Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases
Source: AI-found images
