If Hong Kong's future as a business and trading gateway to the mainland can be measured by the openness of its international aviation agreements, we began to fall behind under the Tung administration.
Over the past year, three important sets of bilateral talks took place between our air-services negotiators and their counterparts from the mainland, India and Japan.
These three national markets in Asia are important to Hong Kong's economic potential. Yet, all the talks failed to meet industry expectations and provide real opportunities for expansion.
Given the increasingly liberal air-services deals being struck across the region - India has completed an open-skies deal with the United States, while the mainland has done the same with Thailand and signed a deal with Washington that came closer to an open-skies pact than anyone had previously dared imagine - Hong Kong, once a leader, is now lagging.
But the situation can be rectified this year, as we look forward to renewed negotiations with India and the US on enlarged pacts and as the European Union presses for talks on a possible pan-European deal.
Still, Below Deck will not be holding its breath, given the oft-repeated criticism of the ivory-tower mentality of the Economic Development and Labour Bureau officials.
