Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu’s recent visit to Central Asia offers insights into policy synergy and regional coordination to help the city refine its first local five-year plan, a public policy expert said on Thursday.

In early June, Lee led a 70-strong delegation comprising business and professional leaders from Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, meeting local government leaders and witnessing the inking of 96 cooperation agreements in public and private sectors totaling $1.65 billion in investment.

Kenneth Wong, director of the School of Governance and Policy at the University of Hong Kong, told China Daily on Thursday that the delegation's diverse composition perfectly illustrates the deepening of unified economic development across the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

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Wong, a public policy expert, suggested aligning these pacts across finance, business, education, aviation, and development projects with the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region’s first five-year plan.

The SAR government will kick off a two-month public consultation on the plan starting June 15.

For instance, he noted that the government should include the proposed direct flights between Hong Kong and Kazakhstan’s largest city Almaty, an outcome of Lee’s visit, in the five-year plan as a prime initiative for enhancing the city’s aviation hub positioning.

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He said that the city’s five-year plan will focus on deepening the integrated economic development with the mainland, and the delegation to Central Asia is a good demonstration that the government could coordinate and support companies from the mainland to unlock joint benefits.

Wong also noted the similarity between Central Asia and the Hong Kong SAR. He said Hong Kong serves as a bridge between the mainland and the rest of the world under the unique “one country, two systems” framework. Likewise, Central Asia, with a stable environment, tremendous natural resources, and steady economic growth, is also a bridge between the East and West.

Therefore, the cooperation between Hong Kong and Central Asia can create mutual benefits and foster productive economic ties, said Wong.

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He also said the city could expand exchanges among students and civil servants with the two Central Asian countries for development and training courses in the future, as deals reached during the visit laid foundations for both government-to-government and people-to-people interactions.

Overall, the trip serves as a valuable foundation for future visits while offering key insights to help the city refine its strategic planning, said Wong.

The government can evaluate results yielded during the trip against the benchmark of the five-year plan to fill policy gaps, Wong said.

Continuing the government-to-government exchange momentum cemented during the visit, Deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan, Kanat Bozumbayev, led a delegation to Hong Kong to attend the Alatau City Investment Round Table event on Thursday.

Lee met with Bozumbayev to exchange views on deepening cooperation between the two places on Wednesday.

Contact the writer at atlasshao@chinadailyhk.com