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With the strong support of relevant central ministries and authorities, the long-awaited offshore RMB China Government Bond Futures will be listed in Hong Kong tomorrow. The debut contract to be listed will be a five-year product, currently the only product of its kind in the offshore market. It will allow international investors to trade and settle the relevant contracts in the offshore market using their existing trading accounts, practices and procedures in Hong Kong.

We are now formulating the first five-year plan for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. At the same time, public consultation is under way for the Chief Executive's new Policy Address. Last week, a consultation session on the theme of sustainable and liveable city was attended by more than 80 representatives from the planning, environmental, social welfare, and think tank sectors, as well as professional bodies and organisations. They offered views from different perspectives and contributed ideas for the further development of Hong Kong as a liveable city. Participants expressed great enthusiasm for the development of the Northern Metropolis. They agreed that its beautiful natural ecology, sound spatial planning, convenient transport links and quality tertiary education would be organically combined with the incoming technology enterprises, talent and industries. This will facilitate the development of the Northern Metropolis into a hub ideal for living, working, studying and visiting, while serving as a new engine for Hong Kong's future economic growth.

The Hong Kong Book Fair is currently underway at the Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai. In recent years, I have made a point of visiting the fair with young people and picking out a book as a gift for them. The year before last, it was One Hundred Thousand Whys. Last year, it was Physics in Graphics. This year, I chose a book on the applications of artificial intelligence (AI) and human-AI collaboration. Taken together, the books from these three years trace a clear trajectory: from exploring principles and understanding science to applying cutting-edge technologies. At this year's Book Fair, innovation and technology (I&T) – AI in particular – feature far more prominently, whether in the books, the exhibitions or the seminars. The popularity of the AI theme shows that it is no longer merely an imagined future confined to the pages of books; it is becoming part of everyday life.