Leaders attending the Global Prosperity Summit in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region on Tuesday said the city can contribute to easing geopolitical tensions, and a stable global environment is crucial for the city’s benefit.
The three-day summit, which kicked off on Monday, aims to build a civil platform for discussing geopolitical issues and exploring ways to settle disputes.
About 200 business leaders, scholars and representatives of think tanks and investment institutions from the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and overseas attended the summit as guests and speakers. Notable attendees included US biochemist and Nobel Prize laureate Roger Kornberg, and Michael Spence, president and provost of University College London.
At the welcome dinner held on Monday night, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said that Hong Kong believes cooperation, instead of deglobalization, is the only realistic way ahead for the global economy and global development
At the welcome dinner held on Monday night, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said that Hong Kong believes cooperation, instead of deglobalization, is the only realistic way ahead for the global economy and global development.
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“We will continue to do everything we can to promote dialogue, collaboration and shared prosperity,” Lee said.
On Tuesday, experts shared their expertise and insights on major geopolitical challenges during five panel discussions, which featured globalization and de-globalization, risks of pan-securitization, science and technology cooperation, competition between great powers, and climate change.
Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee, convener of the city’s Executive Council and chairwoman of the Savantas Policy Institute – one of the summit’s organizing bodies — said at the event that Hong Kong, as a small but open economy, has a high degree of exposure to global risks, and a keen interest in promoting common ground toward resolving these problems.
She expressed the confidence that Hong Kong is well positioned to make the most of its advantages as a superconnector between the Chinese mainland and the rest of the world.
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Huang Ping, executive vice-president of the Chinese Institute of Hong Kong and director of the Centre for Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), said Hong Kong plays a role in both economic and humanistic diplomacy in the current geopolitical environment.
Huang said the city’s advantages, especially its multi-lingual environment, naturally facilitate exchanges between people from different backgrounds. Such an advantage can enhance civil diplomacy and contribute to the nation’s overall diplomatic strategies.
Xu Liping, director of the Center of Southeast Asian Studies and chief of the Department of Asia-Pacific Social and Cultural Studies at CASS, stressed the importance of Hong Kong’s geographical location.
The city is a key to bolstering cultural exchanges, financial development and sustainable infrastructure construction between China and ASEAN countries, Xu noted.
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On Wednesday, a young leaders forum will gather entrepreneurs, senior managers and scholars from Asia to envisage future global economic development and opportunities, before drawing the summit to a close.
