Hong Kong’s connections with regions along the Belt and Road Initiative and the Global South have continued to expand and deepen from finance and innovation to green transformation, and the accelerated development is based on the foundation of the country’s 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030), Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said in his blog on Sunday.

“The 15th Five-Year Plan supports Hong Kong’s development into an international innovation and technology center and consolidating and enhancing its status as an international finance, shipping, and trade center. This comprehensive and robust support from the nation is the foundation for Hong Kong’s accelerated development in connecting with the Global South,” he said.

The 11th Belt and Road Forum held last week saw the participation of more than 6,000 political and business leaders from more than 70 countries and regions. Memorandums of understanding and agreements were signed on and off stage, covering multiple sectors.

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At the summit, the Financial Services and Treasury Bureau of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the Central Bank of the Republic of Uzbekistan exchanged a memorandum of understanding to explore combining the SAR’s central precious metal clearing system with Uzbekistan’s advantages as a major gold producer and reserve country, for strengthening cooperation between the two gold markets.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority, Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing, the Dubai Financial Services Authority and Nasdaq Dubai announced the formation of a strategic working group to normalize and institutionalize the connection between the two financial corridors in Asia and the Middle East.

Against the backdrop of deepening cooperation between Hong Kong and the Middle East, Sohar International Bank – Oman’s second-largest bank – has established its first office outside the Middle East in Hong Kong. It is the first Omani lender to have a presence in the special administrative region.

The Oman Investment Authority said it plans to participate in the HKSAR’s Innovation and Technology Venture Fund, investing about HK$250 million ($32 million) through a partnership with a local fund company, marking the first participation of a Middle Eastern sovereign wealth fund in the program.

“The extension of cross-regional cooperation to the innovation and technology sector relies on Hong Kong’s solid scientific research and innovation capabilities, along with its linkage strength with the science and innovation and industrial chain of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area,” Chan said.

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In the Global Innovation Index 2026, the World Intellectual Property Organization ranked the Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou innovation cluster as first worldwide for the second consecutive year.  It said that in the past five years, the cluster has generated 2,259 international patent applications under the Patent Cooperation Treaty, 4,060 scientific publications, and 138 venture capital transactions per million people, ranking first globally.

Chan said Hong Kong’s innovation and technology foundation is continuously strengthening, with the number of startups having gone up from more than 1,500 in 2015 to more than 5,200 last year, while Hong Kong Science Park and Cyberport have seen the birth of about 20 unicorns so far.

Since the opening of the Hong Kong Park at the Hetao Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Zone in December last year, more than 100 technology companies and institutions have signed leases and moved in one after another.

According to the finance chief, the 210 hectares of innovation and technology land at the San Tin Technopole are forming a coordinated development layout with the Hetao area, covering the upstream, midstream and downstream sectors.

“For the Middle Eastern and Central Asia partners, this means in Hong Kong they can find innovative technology R&D (research and development), commercial applications, and high-end industrial capabilities that can be implemented. When these capabilities are combined with the advanced manufacturing capacity and the vast market of sister cities in the Greater Bay Area, the result is not only commercial returns, but also high-quality development that benefits all parties,” Chan said.

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A broader area of cross-regional cooperation also includes green transformation, which requires the coordination of regulatory integration and capital connection.

The HKMA has launched a public consultation on the next phase’s prototype of the “Hong Kong Taxonomy for Sustainable Finance”, providing practical transformation paths for industries that face greater challenges in emissions reduction, such as aviation and steel manufacturing, with the aim of promoting cross-regional referential rules.

The total amount of green and sustainable bonds issued in Hong Kong in the first half of this year reached $20.2 billion, ranking first in Asia for the eighth consecutive year. “Capital needs outlets, technology needs application scenarios, and rules are the key element connecting the two. This is another contribution Hong Kong is making to the Global South,” Chan said.

Several large Middle Eastern and European financial institutions have expanded their staff and scale in Hong Kong in recent months. “This structural development, driven by the demand for diversified asset allocation among global investors, is deepening and broadening Hong Kong’s market, providing more diversified and abundant funding for our cooperation with countries along the Belt and Road Initiative.”

“This week, the market will focus on Hong Kong’s first Five-Year Plan and the new Policy Address for further understanding the grand vision and direction for Hong Kong's future development,” Chan said.

The market will also like to understand the policy measures to be implemented step by step so that enterprises can better plan for further investment and business development in Hong Kong and the region.