Meeting with Democratic Party members

Following the veto of the constitutional development proposals, I suggested that we refocused our energy on boosting the economy and improving people's livelihoods. I immediately arranged separate meetings with Members of the Legislative Council (LegCo) with different political affiliations to draw on their wisdom.

Two days ago (July 14), together with the Chief Secretary for Administration, Mrs Carrie Lam, and the Director of the Chief Executive's Office Mr Edward Yau, I met with all the LegCo Members from the Democratic Party including the Party's Chairperson, Ms Emily Lau, Mr Albert Ho, Mr Sin Chung-kai, Mr James To, Mr Wu Chi-wai and Dr Helena Wong. During the meeting we listened to the Democratic Party's 11 suggestions and other views.

Held in a pragmatic and frank manner, the meeting was constructive and lasted 20 minutes longer than its scheduled duration of half an hour. At the end of the meeting, I expressed my hope to meet with members of the Democratic Party again to listen to their views before drafting my next Policy Address, and welcomed them to contact me at any time in the interim.

To improve people's livelihood, we must boost the economy. The country is planning various major initiatives including the "Belt and Road" initiatives and the establishment of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. These initiatives, together with the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect, Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect, the establishment of free trade zones, the 13th Five-Year Plan, as well as Pan-Pearl River Delta and Hong Kong/Guangdong co-operation, will offer Hong Kong a lot of opportunities to develop its economy in the short, medium and long term. Hong Kong should hurry up and turn these opportunities into actual economic benefits, jobs and wealth for our people from all walks of life. I therefore look forward to hearing more from the Democratic Party on economic affairs.

I will continue to meet with LegCo Members from other political parties and groups before and after the summer recess.

July 16, 2015