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Today is July 1, a celebration day to celebrate the 27th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to the motherland. In his speech at the reception, the Chief Executive, Mr John Lee, said that opportunities and challenges coexist in Hong Kong, but the opportunities far outweigh the challenges. He pointed out that it is necessary to deal with problems from the perspective of the overall development of the country and the international level, and at the same time adhere to innovative thinking and bottom-line thinking. Mr Lee pointed out that in order to allow the public to celebrate the establishment of the HKSAR together, the Government has set the theme of "Seeking Development with Peace of Mind and Striving for a Better Future" as the theme of celebrating the establishment of the HKSAR this year, and launched a series of celebration and preferential activities to allow members of the public to enjoy the atmosphere of the HKSAR with their relatives and friends.
Mr Lee pointed out that today marks the 27th anniversary of the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China and the second anniversary of the inauguration of the current-term Government. This year marks the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. Li Jiachao said that two years ago today, President Xi Jinping put forward the "four musts" and "four hopes" for Hong Kong, which also became his policy blueprint. Over the past two years, the current-term Government has implemented the spirit of President Xi Jinping's series of important speeches to Hong Kong, and with the concerted efforts of the current-term Government, many of the policies introduced by the current-term Government have become more and more effective.
Li Jiachao's speech at the July 1st celebration reception. (Photo by Dian News reporter Mak Junjie)
Li Jiachao mentioned that in the past two years, he has established a practical team with the goal of results, united the society to build Hong Kong, walked out of the epidemic and fully cleared the border. We have fulfilled our constitutional responsibility for local legislation under Article 23 of the Basic Law, and fulfilled the historic mission that we have been waiting for 26 years, 8 months and 19 days. We have completed district governance, fully implemented the principle of "patriots administering Hong Kong", and set up "Care Teams" in all 18 districts to help citizens in need at different levels. The government has actively developed the economy, improved people's livelihood, and "withdrawn" the property market, with a sharp rebound in property sales registrations and a steady development of the property market.
The government attaches great importance to the housing issue, and the waiting time for public housing is capped at six years, and with the smooth progress of the "light public housing" and the early housing scheme, the waiting time for public housing will be reduced to four and a half years by 2026-27. The government has taken the issue of "subdivided units" directly and set up a working group to "solve the problem of subdivided units". The government targeted poverty alleviation and set the most needy groups as the target of help. The Government has listened to the views of Hong Kong's declining fertility rate, changed its non-intervention policy, and launched a combination of encouraging fertility. The Government is concerned about the rights and interests of workers, and the minimum wage has been changed from a biennial inspection to an annual inspection.
The Government has attracted large-scale investment and talents, and so far 120,000 talents have come to Hong Kong. The government will invigorate the market, increase popularity and boost financial momentum, and will hold more than 200 mega events throughout the year, including "Fun Day and Night" events in the 18 districts. The Government is guided by industrial development and promotes economic and social development. The Chief Executive, together with the Directors of Departments and Bureaux, has been actively visiting different places to explore business opportunities and promote Hong Kong.
Mr Lee thanked the Central Government for its support and love for Hong Kong, and introduced a number of measures to benefit Hong Kong, including the addition of 10 cities for Individual Visit Schemes, a number of new measures to deepen financial cooperation between the Mainland and Hong Kong, in particular the support for the listing of leading mainland enterprises in Hong Kong, and the recent announcement to increase the duty-free quota for luggage and articles of mainland residents. In the past two years, the Government has been committed to improving the level of governance, continuously enhancing the momentum of development, addressing people's livelihood concerns in a timely manner, and jointly maintaining harmony and stability. The government continues to innovate and change, thinking about new ways to solve problems, Li Jiachao emphasized that the work attitude is "there is no best, only better", his team concept is like a ship, the direction must be correct, the belief must be consistent, the speed must continue to accelerate, meet the waves, and bravely move towards the goal.
Looking ahead, Mr Lee said that the HKSAR Government will make all-out efforts in three areas:
First, we will make every effort to develop the economy and focus on improving people's livelihood. In the past two years, the current-term Government has successfully reversed the dilemma of negative economic growth in Hong Kong, with GDP growth shifting from 3.7% in 2022 to 3.3% in 2023, and is expected to grow between 2.5% and 3.5% for the whole of this year. In the past two years, the median of full-time employees has increased by $2,500, or 11%, from $21,000 two years ago to $23,500 in the first quarter of this year. Looking ahead, the Government will make every effort to fight for the economy, development and people's livelihood, for example, the first batch of simple public housing has recently started accepting applications, and it will be ready to move in in the first quarter of next year, providing more than 4,400 flats. Mr Lee said that his policy objectives are to enable the public to have a better life, better housing, better development for the youth, better care for the elderly, and social care and common prosperity, so that the public can live and work in peace and contentment.
Second, strengthen its own advantages and explore new growth points. Li Jiachao said that he has been promoting a promising government, better integrating it with an efficient market, and launched a plan to "grab talents and enterprises" to vigorously attract key enterprises and funds to Hong Kong. Looking ahead, Hong Kong should continue to strengthen its own advantages and develop new economic growth points, in addition to consolidating traditional advantageous industries such as finance, trade, shipping, logistics and professional services, it should also explore the huge opportunities brought about by the domestic and international dual circulation, develop the headquarters economy, give full play to the advantages of financial services, expand the interconnection with the mainland financial market, vigorously develop innovative technology and new quality productivity, promote new industrialization, research and development of new energy transportation and other emerging strategic industries based on the principle of industrial orientation. and promote the cultural entrepreneurship industry. Mr Lee mentioned that the Kai Tak Sports Park will be completed by the end of the year, which will not only promote the development of sports in Hong Kong, but also promote the development of culture, sports, entertainment and other related industries, which will directly boost the competitiveness of Hong Kong's East-meets-West cultural exchange center.
Third, grasp the national and international opportunities and catch the national development express. Hong Kong has ushered in the best opportunity for development from governance to prosperity, and it is necessary to catch the express train of the country's development of new quality productive forces and further deepening reform in an all-round way. On the one hand, Hong Kong will continue to give full play to its unique advantages of "relying on the motherland and connecting with the world" to consolidate its own system and competitiveness, and at the same time, actively integrate into the overall development of the country, develop and consolidate Hong Kong's positioning as eight major centers, take the development of the Northern Metropolis as a new engine and industry-oriented as the development direction, and actively align with the national development strategy, especially grasping the opportunities arising from the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and the Belt and Road Initiative. On the one hand, it will consolidate Hong Kong's advantages as an international city, maintain a high degree of internationalization, strengthen regional cooperation, continue to explore markets such as ASEAN and the Middle East, and strive to join the RCEP as soon as possible. At the same time, we will increase the connection with Western markets such as Europe, give full play to its role as an important node of domestic and international dual circulation, create new opportunities and increase new momentum.
Li Jiachao said, "Those who do things are born out of worry and become successful." In today's Hong Kong, opportunities and challenges coexist, but the opportunities far outweigh the challenges. The Government will continue to dare to take responsibility and achieve good results, and lead all sectors of society to work together to innovate and seek change in this period of economic transition, and give full play to the spirit of striving for success and daring to win. He also pointed out that it is necessary to have a sense of the overall situation, not only look at the trees, but also look at the forest, stand tall and far-reaching, stand on the overall situation of national development and the international height, deal with problems, and at the same time adhere to innovative thinking and bottom-line thinking, "take the result as the goal", speed up and improve efficiency, take the initiative to seize opportunities, give full play to advantages, so that the public can get tangible benefits.
At the same time, Lee Jiachao announced that Hong Kong will soon welcome a pair of giant pandas, and they will come to Hong Kong in a few months, bringing laughter and joy.
