The Chief Executive, Mr John Lee, held an interview on the First Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (2026-2030), and the Chief Executive’s 2026 Policy Address today (September 16). The Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Chan Kwok-ki; the Financial Secretary, Mr Paul Chan; the Secretary for Justice, Mr Paul Lam, SC; and the Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs, Miss Janice Tse Siu-wa likewise participated in. Following are the remarks at journalism conference:

Press reporter: Given that you have provided a comprehensive five-year strategy for Hong Kong’s future advancement, can you share an estimate for the forecasted financial returns from this strategy? And my 2nd concern is: In the Policy Address, you proposed 11 steps to enhance the birth rate. How most likely is it that these procedures will end up being irreversible? And what do you believe young couples will consider them?

President: I will respond to about what we do to promote fertility, and in regard to the financial forecast, I will offer it to the Financial Secretary to address you. In regard to what we do to motivate individuals to bear a kid, they will need to reasonably take a look at their own scenario. I essentially wish to clear as lots of obstacles as possible for individuals to bear a kid. For those who have actually comprised their mind not to bear any kids, I believe no matter what we attempt to assist, the result will not be substantial. For those who are really eager to bear a kid, or for those who are believing about it however having some apprehensions, then these, I believe, are the target groups. For those who wish to bear a kid, however because, first off, they have medical factors that they can’t, then we’ll assist them as much as possible utilizing medical ways. That is something I have actually presented in the 11 procedures. We increase the services for them. And the other thing is, for those who wish to bear a kid, I believe we can assist those who have actually currently had one kid. It will be much simpler to motivate them to have a 2nd kid. That is why I wish to put the resources at the most suitable location by stressing the federal government policy of motivating a 2nd kid. That is why I have actually raised the allowance from $20,000 to $30,000 for a 2nd kid, along with raising the tax decrease. And likewise I have actually provided a $20,000 stamp responsibility exemption if they purchase a flat within 3 years, one year before and 2 years after bearing a kid, and likewise for those who are purchasing our subsidised public real estate, then I will raise the home mortgage rate to 95 percent. These steps are essentially targeting at individuals who have no difficulty to bearing a kid, and we simply wish to assist them. They wish to bear a kid, and we motivate them, assist them.

For those in the middle, and they represent, I believe, a huge number, as they have not comprised their mind and have some apprehensions, we wish to assist them to decide. I have to, initially of all, examine what are the difficulties, and generally it is often doing not have the chance to take care of the kid when the kid is born, and so I’m including more centers to take care of them when, state, the moms and dad requires to work and they require to put the kid in some caring centers. That is something that I’m doing now, and likewise I am, firstly, continuing that $20,000 allowance, which in some method assisted them. If you request for additional action to assist them, then we will examine it every year. For those who wish to have a much better living condition after they have a kid, so we have actually made them understand that we are assisting them to purchase a flat. We are generally utilizing a perk, which is in terms of money, and likewise making tax concessions so that they will understand that when the kid is being established and the Government will attempt to assist them with the tax concession, and will offer centers for taking care of the kids when they require to put their kid in locations where they can have self-confidence that the kid will be taken care of. We do the very best we can, and in general, we develop a friendly environment. The choice whether to bear a kid is a really vital one for the household. It is crucial, very first of all, the Government informs them that we motivate them to bear a kid. We will attempt to aid with centers and with some tax concession plus some money benefit, and when they wish to have much better lodging, we will assist them to purchase flats as much as we can. Essentially, it’s a plan, and we need to be reasonable to make our policy according to the regional circumstance. With regard to the financial side, I will ask the Financial Secretary to manage your concern.

Financial Secretary: Thank you for the concern. Skill is the most important property of any economy. Competitors amongst various economies is figured out by the quality of the skill they have. From Hong Kong’s viewpoint, we have our strengths, however we are likewise dealing with 2 essential concerns. One is an aging population; the other is financial shift. Economic shift calls for the requirement to establish brand-new sectors, as pointed out by the Chief Executive– innovation and development. For quick tracking this advancement, we may not have the ability to groom our own individuals rapidly enough. We require to bring in skill from the Mainland and overseas. It is vital that we have individuals with the certifications, experience and knowledge needed to support our financial advancement. It is challenging to determine their extremely particular contribution to GDP (gdp), due to the fact that individuals will be released to various sectors. Certainly, in order to sustain Hong Kong’s GDP development in the coming years, we require to do the things detailed in the Five-Year Plan and the Policy Address with appropriate resources, and such resources definitely consist of skill. Thank you.

Press reporter: Just 2 concerns on the significant signs and likewise on fertility. For the significant indications of the Five-Year Plan, I’m simply questioning if there are repercussions of stopping working to fulfill such targets. Of the binding ones, there are so couple of. There are really couple of that are binding. Why is that the case? And why are they mostly environment-focused and not financial? Is that an indication that the Government is being excessively careful? That’s our concern on indications. For fertility, the previous child bonus offer a couple of years back stopped working to accomplish its target, with birth rates striking another record low. How would you encourage the general public that it’s a good idea to increase expense on this front if the birth rate continues to drop? Thank you.

President: On signs, I believe the factor to consider is the very same for all federal governments. When they think about what indications stated, they are binding ones since this indicates these are the important things we need to do and we need to attain them. And there are some anticipatory ones, which is something we wish to inform the world that this is the target, so that everyone works to attain the target. It is not the Government alone. They are not the only elements. There are many elements. We desire to play a leading function to inform them the target, which is anticipatory, and hope that everyone will sign up with in to make their finest efforts. In regard to what indications we wish to make it binding, then naturally the most crucial ones are the important things that our company believe impact income, which are extremely crucial. Ecological aspects are crucial due to the fact that, certainly, everybody requires to breathe? We have to make sure that these elements that will impact health so much are something that we should do well to attain, and this is a location that we will dedicate all resources and action to do. Certainly, there are many things we wish to do, and we simply need to concentrate on things and where we will go full-scale to accomplish the binding targets.

In regard to motivating fertility, we do our finest. We do our finest since every city all over the world is dealing with the very same issue. And I believe the takeaway from all these steps that we presented is that there are structural factors for all these. Short-term procedures can assist, however there is a time limitation. We have to continue to do them and attempt to go to cover them as much as possible, so as to make those who desire to bear a kid understand that the Government supports them. We attempt our finest. I believe every federal government needs to be practical about their own circumstance, and after that present steps that will apply to their own scenarios. The mindset, I believe, is necessary for individuals to value that, regardless of all the restraints and restraints, the Government is attempting to do the very best. I am attempting to assist those who desire to bear a kid, whether it is since of medical factor. Or given that they wish to bear a kid, I motivate them to have more than one. That’s what I wish to do. For those who constantly have apprehension, I would attempt to get rid of the apprehension as much as possible with the very best effort. I constantly, when I discuss internally, it resembles constructing an excellent athletic ground for individuals. I develop this ground so that individuals desire to actually keep fit and do workout. They do the workout with no obstacle. Whether he will do work out or not, whether he will run or whether he will leap truly is an option of their own. What I attempt to do is attempt to eliminate the difficulties as much as I can. Of course, the Government can just do its finest, and that is what I have actually attempted to do with the 11 steps that I rolled out.

(Please likewise describe the Chinese part of the remarks.)