How the 5-year plan can serve the nation and deliver for Hong Kong

The city’s new development road map mirrors national priorities, leveraging deeper integration to drive national progress while securing local livelihoods

This year marks the opening year of the national 15th five-year plan. Faced with accelerating change globally and significant opportunities brought by national development, Hong Kong must better integrate into and serve the overall national development, enabling our economic progress to reach new heights while enhancing people’s livelihood and well-being.

This February, I announced that the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government would formulate the city’s first five-year plan. I led the compilation work, with the Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs taking primary responsibility for implementation, and all principal officials and heads of departments participating. Producing Hong Kong’s first five-year plan carried significant responsibilities, including meeting Hong Kong people’s earnest expectations for the city’s long-term development.

The five-year plan, with all its demanding tasks, was devised under an exceptionally tight schedule. It often takes mainland cities one to two years of preliminary research and discussion to construct their five-year plans. We had less than a year to complete Hong Kong’s first five-year plan from scratch. I am grateful to all policy bureaus and departments, and the individuals involved, for their outstanding efforts under pressure – a breakthrough in the Hong Kong government’s public governance capabilities.

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My team and I began by reviewing the five-year plan experiences of Macau and mainland cities. Officials from the Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau visited mainland cities to learn from their experience.

In April, I introduced a research and public-opinion gathering channel between the government and the Legislative Council. My thanks to all Legco members for organising multiple opinion-collection sessions based on professional and sectoral divisions, and for submitting research reports covering six major areas to the government.

Working together, the executive and the legislature allowed the government to race against time while ensuring that the plan was representative and its scientific foundations remained solid.

In June, the Hong Kong government published the consultation document, launching a two-month public consultation on the five-year plan. During this period, the government held over 100 consultation sessions. I personally hosted more than 30. I also visited communities to listen to Hong Kong people’s opinions on their city’s future development.

Among the more than 17,000 submissions we received, 80 per cent came from individuals. Given the public’s overwhelming response, my government used artificial intelligence to assist with opinion analysis.

The voice of the public is clear. Hong Kong people support creating the five-year plan and reinforcing our traditional advantages, including our international financial, trade and maritime centres and our aviation hub. They want the government to build an international innovation and technology centre, accelerate the Northern Metropolis’ development and boost their livelihood and well-being.

I am firmly convinced that the plan, and its vision for economic and social development, will safeguard and improve people’s livelihoods

A member of the public asked me: “The five-year plan talks about major economic issues. What does that have to do with ordinary citizens like us?” My answer then, as now, is direct: I want the people of Hong Kong – every one of you – to share in the dividends of development, and feel a sense of happiness and fulfilment.

And I am firmly convinced that the plan, and its vision for economic and social development, will do just that – safeguard and improve people’s livelihoods.

The plan’s proposals – boosting Hong Kong’s traditional advantages, developing emerging and future industries, accelerating the rise of the Northern Metropolis, deepening the Greater Bay Area’s development and building global cooperation – focus on the economy, but their ultimate goal is to enable Hong Kong people to flourish. With better employment opportunities and more upward mobility for our youth, that can become a tangible reality, turning governance from measures into results.

I have also been asked whether formulating a five-year plan would change Hong Kong’s original system. The answer is no. The plan will uphold Hong Kong’s rule of law and capitalist system, implement the Basic Law and adhere to “one country, two systems” without distorting Hong Kong. It will also uphold its status as an international city, ensure the free flow of capital, people, goods and information, while giving full play to the flexibility and advantages of the capitalist market. As President Xi Jinping has pointed out on multiple occasions, one country, two systems is a good framework that must be adhered to over the long term.

I will release Hong Kong’s first five-year plan on September 16, followed immediately by the publication of the 2026 policy address. This is designed to allow the public to read both documents together, giving people a better understanding of the close interconnection between the two.

The five-year plan maps out the long-term blueprint and strategic direction for Hong Kong’s development, while the policy address serves as an annual report – the focus of that year’s governance in implementing the five-year plan. In the coming years, the annual policy addresses will continue to implement the blueprint, introducing policies and setting measures according to changing circumstances and economic dynamics.

The five-year plan is a vastly ambitious initiative accomplished through collective planning, the participation of all sectors and the building of social consensus – a formidable task saddled with responsibility and far-reaching significance. As for the result, I am encouraged and confident, and look forward to the comments of the people of Hong Kong.

With the strong support of our country, Hong Kong is on its way to opening a bold new chapter in its journey from stability to prosperity.

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