The 2026 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Finance Ministerial Meeting, held in Hong Kong last month, brought together more than 300 representatives from APEC member economies, observer economies and relevant international organizations.
The meeting highlighted how Hong Kong can draw on its strengths as an international financial center and its unique position connecting the Chinese mainland with global markets to advance regional cooperation.
Hong Kong’s first major contribution to regional development lies in connecting financial resources with the Asia-Pacific region’s development needs. Digital transformation, infrastructure development and industrial upgrading are increasingly important sources of growth for regional economies. Realizing these ambitions requires sustained investment, diversified financing channels and effective risk management. The policy statement on digital infrastructure financing adopted at the Hong Kong meeting addressed regional financing gaps and called for closer collaboration among governments, private investors and multilateral development banks. Innovative financing mechanisms, risk-sharing arrangements and stronger project preparation can help direct more capital toward viable projects. This underscores a fundamental point: Regional cooperation must move beyond shared aspirations to address practical questions of funding, risk allocation and implementation. With its mature capital markets, internationally oriented financial services and extensive investor networks, Hong Kong is well placed to bridge financing needs and available capital, supporting investment in infrastructure, technology and the green transition. The real value of its financial strength lies in its ability to channel capital into the real economy and turn development priorities into investable opportunities.
Effective cross-border connections and professional services are equally important in ensuring that financial resources deliver results. Under the “one country, two systems” framework, Hong Kong combines the advantages of access to the vast mainland market with the international reach of a global financial center. It understands the mainland’s development priorities while maintaining close links with international investors, businesses and professional institutions. This gives the city an important role as both a superconnector and a super value-adder in regional cooperation. Mainland enterprises going global can draw on Hong Kong’s financing services, risk-management expertise and international networks. Overseas investors looking to enter the mainland market can use the city as a platform to understand local conditions, deploy capital and establish business operations. As Asia-Pacific economies navigate supply-chain realignments, digital transformation and changing cross-border investment conditions, these capabilities become increasingly valuable. Hong Kong can help reduce the costs and complexities of cross-border business, improve the allocation of resources and enable economies to capitalize on their complementary strengths.
The successful hosting of the Finance Ministerial Meeting underscored Hong Kong’s standing as an international financial center. Discussions on macroeconomic policy coordination, digital infrastructure financing, financial inclusion and exchanges among young financial professionals demonstrated the city’s capacity to provide a platform for addressing shared regional concerns in areas where it has considerable expertise. By bringing together the right participants and facilitating substantive exchanges, Hong Kong can help turn its financial ecosystem and international networks into practical assets for regional cooperation. These capabilities form an important foundation for the city’s contribution to the country’s opening-up and the broader development of the Asia-Pacific region.
Yet the successful conclusion of a meeting does not guarantee that its shared understandings will translate into tangible outcomes. Policy statements establish directions for cooperation, while financing projects require rigorous feasibility assessments, appropriate risk pricing and effective implementation. Individual economies must also adapt agreed-upon approaches to their own circumstances. The value of Hong Kong’s role in hosting the meeting should therefore be assessed in part by whether the relationships established can endure and whether the consensus reached can support further cooperation. Drawing on its financial strengths, Hong Kong can help economies and businesses connect with capital, professional expertise and potential partners, while sustained policy dialogue and talent exchanges can facilitate the sharing of experience. This is how the city can build on its role as a superconnector and become a more effective super value-adder — by creating the conditions for connections to generate measurable benefits.
This objective provides a natural link to the 33rd APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting, scheduled to take place in Shenzhen on Nov 18-19. Under the theme “Building an Asia-Pacific Community to Prosper Together”, the three priorities are openness, innovation and cooperation. The Finance Ministerial Meeting focused on macroeconomic policy, digital infrastructure financing and financial inclusion, building common ground for cooperation on financial issues. The economic leaders’ meeting will bring the broader regional economic agenda into focus, including trade, connectivity, the digital economy and innovation. The outcomes of the Hong Kong meeting can provide a substantive basis for further discussions, while the Shenzhen gathering offers an opportunity to advance cooperation across a wider range of areas. The key is to connect policy consensus more closely with the region’s practical development needs.
Closer cooperation between Hong Kong and Shenzhen is significant in this regard. Hong Kong offers international capital markets, sophisticated financial and professional services, and extensive global business networks. Shenzhen, meanwhile, has established strengths in technological innovation, advanced manufacturing and digital industries. Their geographical proximity and close industrial ties create considerable scope for linking finance with technology, capital with projects, and international markets with innovative enterprises. Digital infrastructure and artificial intelligence, for example, require technological research and industrial applications, alongside long-term financing, risk management and access to international business networks. Hong Kong can help relevant projects and companies broaden their financing options and reach overseas markets, while Shenzhen and the wider Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area can provide technological applications, industrial capabilities and commercial opportunities. By combining these strengths, the two cities can improve regional resource allocation and offer useful experience for Asia-Pacific economies seeking to advance digital transformation, innovative financing and industrial collaboration.
The duo’s cooperation should also be viewed in the wider context of the country’s high-standard opening-up and the pursuit of shared prosperity across the Asia-Pacific. Hong Kong’s international financial and professional services networks can support mainland enterprises expanding abroad and provide overseas capital with channels to participate in development opportunities on the mainland and across the wider region. The Greater Bay Area, in turn, offers a rich base of technological innovation, industrial capacity and practical applications for cross-border collaboration. Closer links among finance, technology, industry and international markets would enable regional cooperation to evolve from individual resource-matching initiatives toward more integrated, multisector development. This would advance APEC’s priorities of openness, innovation and cooperation while strengthening the Greater Bay Area’s contribution to national development and opening-up.
The successful Finance Ministerial Meeting has created fresh opportunities for Hong Kong to deepen its role as an international financial center and a platform for regional cooperation. As the APEC process moves from Hong Kong to Shenzhen, the city’s priority should be to build on the relationships established, the consensuses reached and the expertise it has accumulated, turning these assets into sustained momentum for cooperation.
The author is a member of the Legislative Council and the UN Association of China.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.
