Integration action plan, then results, a matter of policy for Tsang

'WE CHEER FOR Donald Tsang and go home.' That's how one senior banker sums up the prospects for the government's September summit on how Hong Kong can integrate itself into China's 11th five-year plan.

A veteran fund manager concurs: 'Brainstorming with government officials? We had it before. It's all talk with no action.'

These responses, while typical, reflect a serious misunderstanding about the Chief Executive's intentions. Mr Tsang is determined to ensure that the summit ends with a solid action plan.

How solid? Participants will be asked to propose concrete measures; indeed, local financial regulators have already begun studies to prepare for it. A plan listing what needs to be done, who will do it and who needs to be enlisted to help out is expected to be completed within six months of the summit's conclusion. The public and private sectors will be expected to play major roles.

Mr Tsang has every reason to make sure this script is followed. Though Beijing has already made clear it will support him for a second term, he still needs an economic programme. His first year was devoted to correcting mistakes made by his predecessor and resolving some long-running controversies. Now it is time for him to come up with his own blueprint for the city's economic future, resolving 'the deep down conflicts', to paraphrase the words of mainland leaders.

The action plan to come out of the summit will become his economic programme and the event will provide the spotlight to focus attention on it, just four months before the March election.

But to see the summit as merely political theatre would be a mistake. Mr Tsang believes that the 11th five-year plan offers the public and private sectors an opportunity to fundamentally change a mentality that is holding Hong Kong back from playing its proper role in the country's modernisation.