Going on duty visits to promote economic development

I made three duty visits in April. The first visit was to Wuhan and Shanghai, and the second and third visits were to Nansha and Kuala Lumpur respectively.

I went to Wuhan to attend the opening ceremony of the Wuhan Economic and Trade Office and meet with Hong Kong people doing business and studying there.  At the gathering with Hong Kong businessmen, I was impressed by the investments in Wuhan by of three of them- one manufactures pianos on a large scale, while the other two run a racecourse and a large hospital respectively. They are in businesses that Hong Kong people are not so familiar with.  It reflects the opportunities available in the Mainland. As for my visit to Shanghai, I hosted the Plenary Session of the Hong Kong/Shanghai Economic and Trade Co-operation Conference with the Mayor of Shanghai to deepen co-operation between the two places.

I went to Nansha to attend the plaque-unveiling ceremony of the China (Guangdong) Pilot Free Trade Zone. That was the second time that I had visited Nansha in recent years, and I saw what great strides Nansha had made in the short period between my two visits.

During my visit to Kuala Lumpur, I attended the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Leadership Forum, and met with leaders of ASEAN member states and representatives of Malaysia's business sector to promote Hong Kong. I participated in as many as 10 activities on Sunday alone, including two speaking engagements. I also had bilateral meetings with various countries, including Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia, and followed-up on the progress of talks on the free trade agreement with ASEAN. I was the only non-ASEAN government official at the Forum, which highlights the importance that ASEAN leaders attach to Hong Kong.

These three visits shared one common theme, that is, to work for the economic development of Hong Kong. The current-term Government has three major tasks, namely to take forward constitutional development, to promote economic development and to improve people's livelihood. How can people's livelihood be improved without economic growth?

I sincerely hope that everyone can focus their mind and efforts again on Hong Kong's economic development when the issue of constitutional development has settled. After all, there are great opportunities outside. They will not wait for us, nor will our competitors. While constitutional development is very important, we must not lose sight of our economic development and our people's livelihood.

May 4, 2015