ADVANTAGES INTACT
The prolonged social disturbances and rising cases of COVID-19 infections have dealt a double whammy to Hong Kong as its gross domestic product plunged 8.9 percent year on year in the first quarter of this year and the jobless rate during March to May spiked to a 15-year high of 5.9 percent.
However, Lam remains highly optimistic about Hong Kong's outlook and believes its advantages are intact.
"Our edges primarily lie in 'one country, two systems' and secondly in an independent judiciary system and an efficient business environment," Lam said. "The strategy of the HKSAR government is to protect our inherent advantages and wait for the best timing to revive the economy."
From the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area to the Belt and Road Initiative and the cooperation with the ASEAN members, "all these will bring a great deal of opportunities to service providers and businesses in Hong Kong as an international financial center," Lam said.
Lam hopes that Hong Kong will expand cooperation with other cities of the Greater Bay Area in youth entrepreneurship and innovation in a bid to make full use of its strengths. "At least three or four Hong Kong universities plan to build new campuses in the Greater Bay Area."
Hong Kong serves as a significant platform for fund-raising activities of mainland businesses and overseas settlement of renminbi, and boasts high quality services of arbitration, education and medical treatment, Lam said.
POLITICAL OBSTRUCTION
While tapping the opportunities of integrating into national development, Hong Kong also needs to resolve its own deep-seated problems.
Since taking office in 2017, Lam has been working on tackling Hong Kong's development bottleneck and bringing in new vitality. She highlighted housing, land supply, improvement of people's livelihood, and economic development in her latest Policy Address published last October.
However, the filibuster of opposition lawmakers has turned providing people's well-being into a political issue.
Lam said many government development proposals, including a land reclamation project, have suffered obstructions. "I hope the public can see clearly who is obstructing Hong Kong's development."
Looking ahead, Lam said there are a lot of things she wishes to achieve. "Build more houses, develop more land, improve communication and education, promote arts and culture...I hope to keep pushing forward on all these fronts."
