Remarks by CS on 2026-27 Budget (with video)
Following are the remarks by the Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Chan Kwok-ki, at a media session at the Legislative Council Complex after the Financial Secretary delivered his Speech on the 2026-27 Budget today (February 25):
The Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Chan Kwok-ki, Photo source: HKSAR Government Press Releases
Just now, the Financial Secretary delivered the 2026-27 Budget.
The Financial Secretary, Mr Paul Chan, Photo by Bastille Post
Over the past year, despite a complex and volatile external environment marked by global geopolitical tensions, our economy has demonstrated remarkable resilience. We achieved steady growth in 2025, and our fiscal position has improved significantly. This is a hard-earned result.
This year marks the beginning of the National 15th Five-Year Plan - a critical blueprint for national development over the next five years. Against this important backdrop, this Budget proactively aligns with the country's strategic directions, enhancing Hong Kong's better integration into and contribution to the overall national development. Some highlights of the Budget include:
First, stepping up innovation and technology (I&T) development. The Budget aligns with the National AI+ Initiative to promote deep integration of AI with different industries. Resources are injected to speed up the development of the Hetao Co-operation Zone (Hetao Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Co-operation Zone) Hong Kong Park, San Tin Technopole and the Hung Shui Kiu Industry Park. AI training programmes will also be enhanced to improve AI literacy and application across the community.
Second, strengthening our status as an international financial centre. The Budget introduces a host of measures covering securities, bonds, offshore Renminbi business, asset management and digital assets. While reinforcing our traditional strengths, emerging sectors are also being explored. Mutual-market access will be enriched and Hong Kong's function as a key platform for "bringing in and going global" will be reinforced, thereby contributing to the country's goal of becoming a financial powerhouse.
Third, enhancing the competitiveness of our traditional industries. Amid external uncertainties, the Budget rolls out a series of measures, including attracting new and large-scale international exhibitions to Hong Kong. Smart transformation of the logistics industry will be promoted, and cargo sources will also be expanded with a view to consolidating Hong Kong's status as a trade, shipping and aviation hub.
Fourth, nurturing and attracting talent. Talent is key to economic development. The Budget supports the integrated development of education, technology and talent. It sets aside $10 billion in loans to support campus development in the Northern Metropolis University Town. While continuing to attract talent from the Mainland and overseas, efforts will be stepped up to nurture local talent in various sectors including I&T, finance and legal services, providing a solid foundation for Hong Kong's future development.
The Budget also takes care of people's livelihoods. While maintaining fiscal prudence, it introduced targeted measures to support members of the public and local enterprises. Resources have also been set aside to follow up on the long-term housing arrangements for those affected by the Tai Po fire, and to inject $300 million into the Urban Renewal Authority for the launch of an enhanced version of the "Smart Tender" service, with the aim of addressing the issue of bid-rigging in building repair works.
In summary, I think this is a comprehensive, pragmatic and forward-looking Budget. Under the leadership of the Chief Executive, the Government will continue to deploy resources effectively, promote economic development - particularly the accelerated development of the Northern Metropolis - and improve people's livelihoods. Together, we will seize new opportunities and sharpen Hong Kong's core competitiveness.
I call on all sectors of the community to give their full support to this Budget. Let's work together to promote Hong Kong's high-quality development and build an even better Hong Kong.
Thank you very much.
The 2026-27 Budget, Photo by Bastille Post
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the remarks.)
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
