Chief Executive Outlines New Direction for Hong Kong in Policy Address
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October 10, 2007 - Hong Kong Chief Executive Mr. Donald Tsang, has today outlined a new direction for Hong Kong’s development in his first Policy Address of the Third Term Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government.
Speaking at the Legislative Council, Mr. Tsang said he had full confidence in the city’s future.
“The rise of our country brings new opportunities. It also ushers in a new era for Hong Kong,” said Mr. Tsang in his Policy Address entitled ‘A New Direction for Hong Kong’.
“Over the next five years, we need to cultivate a new spirit for these new times. We need to become new Hongkongers, better equipped to sustain developments in the new era,” he said. “To capitalize on these opportunities, we all have to set new goals. We need vision, but, more importantly, we need practical plans to achieve that vision.”
Mr. Tsang set out three ‘guiding principles’ to realize his vision over the next five years:
* Promoting economic development as a primary goal;
* Promoting sustainable, balanced and diversified development; and,
* Enhance social harmony to facilitate social mobility, help the poor, create job opportunities and promote a caring culture in the community
The Chief Executive advocated the concept of ‘Progressive Development’ to achieve these goals.
“By ‘Progressive Development’, I mean overall progress rather than economic development alone,” he said. “Apart from economic benefits, we should strive for benefits to culture, the society and the environment. Progressive Development emphasizes sustainable, balanced and diversified development.”
Mr. Tsang said all sectors of the community had a role to play in Progressive Development. “We should take a practical look at the respective responsibilities of the Government, enterprises and individuals,” he said.
Mr. Tsang also said the Government’s role was mainly to formulate policies conducive to sustainable economic development so every citizen had the opportunity to share the fruits of prosperity and progress.
Without economic prosperity, Mr. Tsang said, people could not make a decent living and all visions for future development would be empty talk.
The Chief Executive said that he would promote economic development by pushing ahead with large-scale infrastructure projects, enhancing Hong Kong’s role as a global financial center, promoting cultural and creative industries, developing human capital and attracting talent from around the world.
Mr. Tsang pledged to push ahead with 10 major infrastructure projects that would boost connectivity with the Mainland, improve transport in Hong Kong, boost cultural and creative activities, and open up new areas for development. He pointed out that infrastructure development can bring about huge economic benefits. Both employment opportunities and wages will increase during the construction stage, and, upon completion, the infrastructure projects will boost economic activities and improve the living environment.
The 10 major infrastructure projects include the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link, the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge, the West Kowloon Cultural District and the Kai Tak redevelopment.
“A rough estimate of the added value to our economy brought about by these projects, from commissioning to a mature stage, would be more than HK$100 billion (US$12.8 billion) annually. In addition, some 250,000 jobs would be created,” he said.
The Chief Executive also urged enterprises to look beyond their economic role in society and shoulder social responsibility in areas such as wage protection, environmental protection, heritage conservation and building a caring society.
Mr. Tsang also added that individuals should seize the opportunities to fully equip themselves to move with the times, embrace the new economy and meet the demands of a changing world.
Aside from undertaking 10 major infrastructure projects to spur economic growth, the Chief Executive also outlined four other main areas that would help Hong Kong rise to a new level of development and meet the challenges ahead. These include:
· Developing a quality city with quality life by improving the living environment, enhancing heritage protection and revitalizing historic buildings, promoting cultural and creative industries and introducing new food safety laws and standards.
· Investing in a caring society by returning wealth to the people through tax cuts and a rates rebate, promoting the development of social enterprises, providing more training and retraining opportunities, alleviating poverty and improving services for the elderly.
· Optimizing the demographic structure and attracting talent by expediting the development of human capital and promoting healthy ageing. The Government will provide 12 years of free education from the 2008-09 school year, introduce small class teaching where appropriate and boost Hong Kong's position as a regional education hub. A comprehensive review of the health care system will also be carried out.
· Developing democracy and enhancing governance by collating and summarizing public views received during the consultation on constitutional development and submitting a report to the Central Authorities that faithfully reflects the community's views. The Government will also allow all District Councils to manage some facilities in their areas, increase funding for minor district works projects, and boost support to District Officers so they are better equipped to deal with grassroots issues. Promoting the Basic Law and national education will be further strengthened.
“For these strategies to succeed, the Government, enterprises and individual citizens must each play their part,” said Mr. Tsang. “We all need to be pragmatic and proactive in shouldering our respective responsibilities.
“When people from different social strata and age groups, and people of different political views, all strive for progress and advancement, we will embark upon a new journey for a golden decade.
“Hong Kong will progress into a more brilliant world city.”
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The full text of the Policy Address can be found on the Web site: http://www.policyaddress.gov.hk/07-08/eng/policy.html
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