The Chief Executive’s Council of Advisers, chaired by Chief Executive John Lee, held its second meeting today. Having regard to the latest Policy Address, the council focused its discussions on how to enhance Hong Kong’s role in fostering regional and global economic and trade collaboration as well as on relevant external factors.

The Chief Executive announced his second Policy Address last month, introducing an array of measures to consolidate the city’s existing advantages and explore new growth potential for the economy.

At today’s meeting, in addition to the strategic measures on economic development covered in the Policy Address, the council had in-depth conversations on the trend of global economic development and geopolitics in the coming year as well as on how Hong Kong could address the challenges for creating strong impetus for growth and improving people’s livelihood.

The advisers were supportive of the policy directions put forth in the Policy Address, agreeing that Hong Kong should continue its efforts of capitalising on the unique advantage of having the strong support of the country and being closely connected to the world under “one country, two systems”. They also backed Hong Kong proactively integrating into the country’s development, maintaining a high degree of internationalisation, strengthening regional and global collaboration, and exemplifying its role as an important node of the national and international dual circulation.

Mr Lee said: “I sincerely thank the advisers for their support for my new Policy Address, which has showcased the Government’s all-out efforts of introducing immediate as well as short, medium and long-term measures for Hong Kong as it fully recovers from the COVID-19 epidemic.”

He pointed out that the Policy Address covers micro and internal perspectives for Hong Kong, and at the same time deals with macro and external factors, in addition to introducing measures to connect Hong Kong with the country and the rest of the world.

“In order to bring Hong Kong to new heights while managing the underlying risks, we must fully appraise the possible impact of the external environment on Hong Kong to ensure that the measures covered in the Policy Address can be implemented effectively.”

As the council has a strong line-up of domestic and international elites, Mr Lee added that the meeting today provided him and his team with valuable advice and a useful reference, which will help the Government take forward the initiatives introduced in the Policy Address.