Hong Kong leader touts city’s role in Greater Bay Area at 2026 summit, highlights APEC finance meet
Hong Kong’s chief executive said the city will leverage its financial strengths and the first APEC finance ministers’ meeting held in the city to serve national development. He also outlined plans to align with the national 15th Five-Year Plan, including a new five-year plan for Hong Kong and develo
Hong Kong’s chief executive said the city will leverage its international financial centre status and the first APEC finance ministers’ meeting held in Hong Kong to serve the nation’s development, as he addressed the 2026 Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Summit on 20 October.
Speaking at the forum organised by the Hong Kong Economic Journal, Chief Executive John Lee noted that this year’s APEC Chinese year theme is “Building an Asia-Pacific Community for Shared Prosperity”, focusing on openness, innovation and cooperation. He said the APEC finance ministers’ meeting, hosted by the national Ministry of Finance and organised by the Hong Kong government, will begin on the afternoon of 20 October, marking the first time the meeting is held in the city. Lee said the meeting is the last professional ministerial-level meeting before the APEC leaders’ informal meeting in Shenzhen next month, and “significant for Hong Kong to leverage its financial advantages to serve the APEC Chinese year”.
Lee said Hong Kong will use the meeting to showcase its economic, financial and social development to attending APEC economy finance officials and international organisation representatives, and highlight its role as a core city in the Greater Bay Area linking national and international opportunities. This year marks the start of the national 15th Five-Year Plan, which Lee said calls for deepening the Greater Bay Area’s construction, strengthening rule and mechanism alignment in technology, economy and public services to accelerate building a world-class bay area. The Hong Kong government last month released its first five-year plan for 2026 to 2030, aligning with the national plan and aiming to build Hong Kong into an international innovation and technology centre by 2030, he added.
Lee said Hong Kong, the only city with five universities among the world’s top 100 and ranked fourth globally in talent competitiveness, will strive to become a high-end talent hub to drive development in technology, trade and finance for the Greater Bay Area. He highlighted the Northern Metropolis as a key area for talent development, with a university town, innovation and technology, industry and livability goals. The Hong Kong park in the Lok Ma Chau Loop, part of the Hetao Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Zone, has attracted over 100 tech firms and institutions, he noted. The park’s first building, “Hetao Research and Innovation One”, set for completion by end of 2026, will be a flagship for the Northern Metropolis university town.
Lee said Hong Kong will leverage its international financial centre advantages, including strengthening its role as a global offshore renminbi hub, international asset and wealth management centre and risk management centre, to provide secure investment and financing services. He said the city is preparing to include renminbi counters in the Stock Connect scheme and encourage listed companies to add such counters, aiming to boost offshore renminbi liquidity and product variety. On the port sector, Lee said Hong Kong is transforming from a “tonnage port” to a “value port” through digitalisation, green and smart development, and will deepen coordination with Shenzhen and Guangzhou ports to build a multimodal transport network. He said Hong Kong, with one of the largest shipping networks connecting to Central and South America in the region, will push to become a key maritime hub linking South China and South America.