We made progress, we haven't made as much progress as we'd like to make,

We need to make progress in other areas. We need to address the whole of the agenda if we are to make the progress we want to do,

There is progress in agriculture, even though we are still looking for further commitments from others. However, this progress is not matched in industrial goods or services. This lack of balance is a real problem and points to the ground we need to make up at Hong Kong.

Progress is certainly needed if we are going to make Hong Kong the success we want, ... But if that is going to be possible, we must make urgent and balanced progress across the whole agenda.

Everybody thought that we were progressing so well that we would just continue to progress. But in fact that did not happen.

Because globalization and technology are different modes of progress, it’s possible to have both, either, or neither at the same time. For example, 1815 to 1914 was a period of both rapid technological development and rapid globalization. Between the First World War and Kissinger’s trip to reopen relations with China in 1971, there was rapid technological development but not much globalization. Since 1971, we have seen rapid globalization along with limited technological development, mostly confined to IT.

This age of globalization has made it easy to imagine that the decades ahead will bring more convergence and more sameness. But I don’t think that’s true. [...] Most people think the future of the world will be defined by globalization, but the truth is that technology matters more. Without technological change, if China doubles its energy production over the next two decades, it will also double its air pollution. If every one of India’s hundreds of millions of households were to live the way Americans already do—using only today’s tools—the result would be environmentally catastrophic. In a world of scarce resources, globalization without new technology is unsustainable.