For Hong Kong to maintain its status as a world class city, it will have to capitalise on the vast achievements it obtained during the past 12 months. It was a year which saw records broken on the financial markets and education prominence putting the city against renown halls of academia.
The blueprint for its future will be drawn from the experiences of the people of Hong Kong who are currently being consulted for the Chief Executive’s fourth policy address in September.
"I have endeavoured to transform the culture of the Government into one that is result-oriented, works at a faster pace, and is proactive. My team and I have been listening to the views of the public and focusing on serving the community. We are committed to developing the economy and improving people's livelihoods to ensure our initiatives effectively respond to the needs of the public," the Chief Executive, Mr John Lee said in a release announcing the consultation process.
The Government will hold more than 40 consultation sessions to receive the views and suggestions of Legislative Council Members, representatives of different sectors, and the public. Mr Lee and his principal officials will also conduct district visits to meet with the public and representatives of different sectors to listen to their views directly. His address will be, as always, a ‘team Hong Kong’ effort.
Key to Hong Kong’s success has been the city’s financial sector. Already this year, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange has ushered in a total of 52 Initial Public Offerings (IPOs), up 30 per cent year-on-year and raising a total of HK$124 billion, an increase of 590 per cent year-on-year. This placed Hong Kong’s ranking first in the world ahead of New York, London, and Sydney. This is expected to grow to 80 IPOs worth some $200 billion by year’s end. And the Hang Seng Index has already risen by 25.3 per cent year-on-year.
The government will surely be looking at ways to continue improving the listing system, say, by tapping our neighbouring Asian markets for secondary listings, further promote liquidity in the stock market, attract more quality enterprises from around the world to list in Hong Kong, and enhance Hong Kong’s attractiveness and vitality as a listing location.
The other pillars of the economy, tourism, aviation and shipping where efforts are being made to enhance Hong Kong as a regional shipping centre, will also receive prominent mention in his speech.
Moreover, reaching Hong Kong’s fore has been its education system, not only the achievements of local universities and students, but also an opportunity provided by US president Donald Trump himself when he closed the doors on foreign student intakes by the famed Harvard University and others. As a result of Trump policies, Hong Kong's eight publicly funded universities have received 850 transfer inquiries from students affected by the US policies and have extended at least 36 formal offers as of the end of June. This will obviously involve stepping up promotion of the "Study in Hong Kong" brand to attract more outstanding non local students.
As the only city with five universities in the world's top 100, Hong Kong is an international hub for exchange and collaboration among high-calibre talent. For two consecutive years (this will be his third), the Chief Executive has put forward in the policy address the goal of developing Hong Kong into an international education hub and a cradle for future talent. This will involve making good use of the Northern Metropolis development, with new land, new population, excellent connectivity, development opportunities of different industries and close connections with the Mainland, to provide space for the post-secondary education sector to develop and enhance its quality and capacity.
At present, the Government has reserved about 90 hectares for developing the Northern Metropolis University Town on the outskirts of Yuen Long and the overall plan will incorporate much needed student accommodation, a major problem in Hong Kong where only one student in four can acquire accommodation on campus.
Undoubtedly, this year’s address will be an update of these developments, which are expected to be completed after 2030.
Of course, the address will cover every aspect of Hong Kong life and core industries including tourism, aviation and shipping, where efforts will be made to enhance Hong Kong as a regional shipping centre.
Providing a background to the policy address will be research undertaken during the year by the Chief Executive’s Central Policy Unit (CEPU) which co-ordinates the consultation process and follow-up the implementation of policy initiatives.
Mark Pinkstone
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