Full text of the First Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (2026-2030) (2)
Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region
Full text of the First Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (2026-2030) (2)Strengthen the Four Centres, Develop the Hub for High calibre Talent, Consolidate and Enhance Our Edge in Global Competition
2.1 To ensure Hong Kong’s long term prosperity and stability, we must fully leverage our city’s existing advantages while expediting development and enhancing new quality productive forces. By consolidating and enhancing Hong Kong’s status as international financial, maritime and trade centres, and developing Hong Kong into an international I&T centre and a global hub for high calibre talent, we will further sharpen our city’s competitive edge. Advancing the development of the “four centres and one hub” at full steam will help drive and sustain Hong Kong’s economic development. The arising development dividends will improve people’s livelihood, continuously enhancing social well being. Meanwhile, deepening the development of the international legal and dispute resolution services centre, the regional intellectual property trading centre, and the East meets West centre for international cultural exchange, among others, will provide staunch support for the development of the “four centres and one hub”, fostering the promotion of scientific research and innovation as well as industry development, and fully leveraging Hong Kong’s unique strengths of connecting with the Mainland and the world under “one country, two systems” and its world city status. With this, we shall further sharpen our edge amid global competition. Renminbi Business Hub, International Asset and Wealth Management Centre, and International Risk Management Centre
Table 2 Strengthening Hong Kong’s Role as a Global Offshore RMB Business Hub2.4 We shall bolster Hong Kong’s status as a world leading cross-boundary wealth management centre. We will provide quality services for global sovereign wealth funds and family offices to develop their businesses in Hong Kong, and strengthen our city’s functions in asset allocation and wealth management for Mainland and global investors. We aim to encourage more international and Mainland family capital and long term capital to establish and expand their operations in Hong Kong through enhancing the regulatory and market infrastructure, enriching the professional services ecosystem, promoting the development of family offices, and enhancing the tax regimes for funds, single family offices, as well as carried interest. We are also committed to promoting the development of our fund market by diversifying the range of asset classes under management and product offerings, including diversified asset management instruments such as alternative asset funds and real estate investment trusts, thereby deepening and broadening our overall asset and wealth management capabilities.
2.5 We shall strengthen Hong Kong’s role as an international risk management centre. We endeavour to deepen regulatory co-operation with the Mainland and overseas markets, and fully leverage our competitive edge in the international insurance, reinsurance, and capital markets to advance the synergised development of traditional insurance and non traditional risk management tools. These will enable us to unleash the synergy effect of multi layered risk transfer and pooling mechanisms through insurance linked securities, captive insurers, and a marine specialty risk pool, consolidating our strategic role as a regional and global catastrophe and specialty risk management hub. In the meantime, we will strengthen the insurance industry’s risk based capital regime, promote the investment of insurance capital in infrastructure projects in Hong Kong and the Mainland, and enhance the industry’s risk prevention and control capabilities as well as risk management culture.
2.15 We will safeguard our financial security, improve long term mechanisms, and enhance our capabilities in financial risk monitoring, early warning, and prevention response. We will also improve the cross market and cross agency joint prevention and control mechanism. In the meantime, we will strengthen our risk monitoring in key areas, while enhancing financial infrastructure and the data security protection system, thereby fortifying cybersecurity and consolidating our capabilities in fintech regulation and anti-money laundering.
Table 4 Advancing the Green Transformation of the Maritime Industry2.18 We will promote high quality collaborative development among ports and deepen co-operation with Mainland and international shipping ports. We will strengthen our status as an international transhipment hub and strive to integrate into the country’s logistics hub network, thereby contributing to the country’s efforts in increasing its competitiveness and influence in the international shipping landscape. Through co-operation and leveraging the complementary advantages of the Southeast Asia routes of both ports, Hong Kong and Yangpu Ports can establish a “dual-hub” model, which will facilitate the export of cargoes through either port. By making good use of the comparative advantages that Hong Kong enjoys in terms of Central and South America routes, we will collaborate with national key cold chain logistics bases in other Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area cities to develop Hong Kong into an international centre of cold chain trade in South China, thereby contributing to the country’s development of an international cold chain logistics corridor between South China and South America. We will continue to develop a comprehensive “rail-sea-land-river” intermodal transport system. By pursuing cross-province operation of and licensing regime reform for cross-boundary goods vehicles, as well as the mutual recognition of commercial vehicle driving licences issued by Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, we strive to reduce the cost of cargo transhipment via Hong Kong and achieve the goal of stabilising container throughput.
Table 5 Promoting High-Quality Collaborative Development among PortsSection 2 Develop a High Value-added Maritime Services Ecosystem
2.19 We will strengthen high value-added maritime services. By further enhancing Hong Kong’s ship registration regime, we aim to enhance Hong Kong’s competitiveness as a premier registry for international shipowners and attract more vessels to register in Hong Kong, thus broadening the scale of the Hong Kong registered fleet. We will also uphold quality enhancement as the major direction to support the upgrading and development of the high value-added maritime services cluster, while fully leveraging Hong Kong’s strengths in maritime services such as ship management, ship financing, marine insurance, maritime arbitration services, etc. We will assist enterprises from the Belt and Road Initiative partner countries in developing the Mainland and Asian markets. Through driving industry stakeholders and training institutions to collaborate in further developing a systematic training framework that consolidates existing resources and professional strengths, we seek to build a stable talent pool for the high value-added maritime services.
Table 6 Elevating the International Reputation and Competitiveness of Hong Kong’s High Value-added Maritime ServicesSection 3 Enhance Hong Kong’s Status as an International Aviation Hub
2.20 We will strive to enhance Hong Kong’s competitive edge as an international aviation hub by continuously launching new routes, strategically attracting local and non-local airlines to develop new destinations and increase flight frequencies, and strengthening Hong Kong’s long haul network, particularly connections with the Belt and Road Initiative partner countries. We will also deepen international co-operation by actively participating in international civil aviation conferences and proactively reach out to aviation partners to negotiate new air services agreements or expansion of traffic rights, with priority focus on regions with further development potential and new growth areas, such as South America, Central Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. We will press ahead with the development of the “Airport City” to drive high end commercial and tourism activities, and to strengthen the appeal of the Hong Kong International Airport as a transit hub.
Table 7 Development of the International Aviation Hub2.21 We will deeply engage in the development of the national aviation network. Building on the existing highly internationalised network, we will proactively align with the national aviation network development strategy by fully leveraging Hong Kong’s advantages of connecting the Mainland and the world, and actively integrating into the country’s “one circle, six corridors, and five channels” development⁶. In doing so, we will support and serve our country in enhancing the global reach of the aviation network to strengthen the resilience and connectivity of the national aviation network as a whole, allowing us to be better prepared for the reshaping of the global aviation network landscape. We will strengthen co-operation with the airport cluster in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area in terms of operational co-ordination, airspace optimisation, intermodal arrangement, and other aspects. By promoting resource sharing and complementary functions within the airport cluster, we will enhance our overall operational efficiency and service quality, thereby boosting the global competitiveness of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area airport cluster.
Table 8 Active Integration Into the National Aviation Development Strategy of “Trunk-Branch Connectivity, Whole-Network Linkage”Section 4 Develop a New Ecosystem for the Aviation Industry
2.22 We shall develop an aviation industry ecosystem with a global edge. We will strive to develop an aircraft parts processing and trading industry ecosystem to establish a “front shop, back factory” industry cluster and Asia’s first aircraft parts processing and trading centre. We will actively participate in the R&D and certification of home developed aircraft and leverage our bridging role to help home developed aircraft tap into the global market through Hong Kong. By leveraging Hong Kong’s Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) production base in Dongguan, we will advance SAF value chain development in the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area (including the construction of an SAF blending facility in Hong Kong), thereby supporting our country’s SAF development.
Table 9 Developing an Aviation Industry Ecosystem with a Global Edge2.23 We shall develop Hong Kong into the Asia-Pacific hub for innovative low-altitude applications. We will formulate and implement the Action Plan on Developing Low-Altitude Economy. We will enhance the regulatory regime, set standards, and develop infrastructure, while proactively enhancing R&D, talent nurturing and alignment with international standards in LAE-related fields. We will give full play to our roles as a leader, connector, and illustrator and explore developing a demonstration and compliance base for LAE to go global, on the basis of strengthening effective alignment with the Mainland’s regulatory framework. We will also study jointly advocating for the establishment of an international LAE co-operation organisation with the Mainland.
2.24 We will advance the development of cross-boundary low-altitude logistics in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. By fully leveraging the industry foundation and geographical advantages of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and drawing on our pioneering explorative experiences of collaboration with neighbouring Mainland cities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, we will strive to connect the key resources in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao to broaden application scenarios for cross-boundary low-altitude logistics in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, thereby expediting the development of an integrated and scaled cross-boundary low-altitude logistics network covering the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
Table 10 Developing an LAE Ecosystem2.25 We will strive to enhance the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area’s intermodal network. We will focus on advancing the development of the Hong Kong International Airport Dongguan Logistics Park, expediting smart and integrated collaboration for airport operations. We will also develop more intermodal transport models, continuously enhance the “Fly-Via-Zhuhai-Hong Kong” initiative⁷, and enhance the convenience for the transport of passengers and goods in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area to and from all around the world. With a view to strengthening the Hong Kong International Airport’s connectivity with other Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area cities, we will leverage the “sea-air intermodal cargo transhipment mode” at the Hong Kong International Airport Dongguan Logistics Park to enhance the connectivity of the two places, facilitate cargo flow, and strengthen the collaboration between aviation logistics and e-commerce.
2.26 We will strive to take the lead in the interactive development mode that harnesses the complementary strengths of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area airport cluster. We will promote the integrated development of aviation and maritime sectors between Guangdong and Hong Kong, explore co-operation with the airports of Macao and Shenzhen to facilitate collaborative airspace management, and optimise air routes, thereby improving flight efficiency and capacity as well as strengthening co-operation in cargo, maintenance, and training.
Table 11 Optimising the Intermodal Network of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay AreaChapter 8 International Trade Centre
2.27 We shall consolidate and enhance Hong Kong’s status as an international trade centre. We will expand our networks, enhance our competitive edge, and create new room for growth, while pursuing upgrades with the goal of achieving “digitalisation” and “diversification” and leveraging Hong Kong’s advantages as financial and treasury centres, thereby strengthening our role as a platform for offshore trade. We will encourage manufacturing, technology, and logistics enterprises to engage in high value added activities such as taking international orders, conducting foreign exchange, trade finance, and supply chain management, etc. through Hong Kong, so as to develop our city into an integral hub serving the global industry and supply chains. We will bring together global enterprises to participate in high quality Belt and Road co-operation, while reaching out to markets around the world, so as to enhance Hong Kong’s resilience and strategic significance as an international trade centre.Issued at HKT 11:21