New five-year plan to inject vitality into HK: CE

Chief Executive John Lee on Wednesday said Hong Kong's upcoming new five-year plan would inject "vitality" into the city's future development. The remarks came as he announced on Tuesday that the city would launch a two-month public consultation on the strategic blueprint from Monday. Speaking at a forum centring on the national 15th Five-Year Plan as well as the SAR's development, Lee noted the SAR government was pressing ahead at full steam to formulate the city's first-ever five-year plan. Hong Kong, he added, would also proactively align with the national 15th Five-Year Plan to better integrate into the country's overall development, noting the country's high-quality growth would offer the "best opportunities" for the SAR. "Hong Kong's own five-year plan will help the city build a more dynamic and competitive development pattern where its advantages and positions will be further enhanced, and the Northern Metropolis would rise rapidly," he told participants. "Meanwhile, the 'AI Plus' and 'Finance Plus' strategies would together drive the city to contribute more on building the Belt and Road Initiative and the Greater Bay Area, and play a greater role in the country's opening up. "Hong Kong will benefit greatly from all these and its citizens will share the development dividends and move towards a better life," he added. Separately, Lee noted the city's economy had shown "strong" growth momentum in the first quarter of year, with gross domestic product rising 5.9 percent year on year. He added that the high-level delegation he led to visit Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan last week had yielded "fruitful results", and that the SAR would continue to play its role as a "super connector" and "super value-adder" to attract global funds and talent. The chief executive called on all patriots to seize on the "historical opportunities" during the country's 15th Five-Year Plan period, and contribute to the city's own five-year blueprint. The event was jointly organised by the Friends of Hong Kong Association and the China Overseas Friendship Association, and it was also held to mark the 29th anniversary of the establishment of the Hong Kong SAR. Edited by Tony Sabine