On September 10-11, Hong Kong hosts the 10th edition of the Belt and Road Summit. This is a milestone gathering aimed at reinforcing the city’s position as both a “superconnector” and a “super value-adder” while fostering the development of an open global economy.
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Against the backdrop of continuing disruptions to global capital and trade flows under the second administration of US President Donald Trump – whose renewed emphasis on economic nationalism and supply-chain decoupling has deepened the trend towards deglobalisation – the event offers Hong Kong an opportunity to reassert itself as a global hub for risk management and asset pricing. In doing so, the city could help partner countries build resilience and pursue more sustainable, diversified growth.
Partner economies in the Belt and Road Initiative are grappling with challenges ranging from geopolitical tensions and trade fragmentation to global supply chain adjustments. Vietnam illustrates the dilemma vividly: it had the world’s fourth-largest trade surplus with the United States in 2024, with almost one-third of its exports bound for the American market.
This deep concentration has fuelled rapid growth, but it has also left the Vietnamese economy vulnerable to shifts in US trade policy. Vietnam is not unique in this regard. Many partner countries share structural vulnerabilities – overreliance on a handful of export markets, low value-added production and susceptibility to external demand shocks.
Such realities highlight a core challenge for the Belt and Road Initiative in pursuing mutual benefit: how to strengthen industrial resilience amid uncertainty in global trade. Here, Hong Kong’s distinctive advantages become particularly significant.
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The city is among the most open economies worldwide, topping the charts in trade and financial freedom and ranking second in business efficiency. Its free-port regime exempts most goods from tariffs and imposes neither value-added nor sales taxes. Corporate profits are taxed at just 16.5 per cent, and port efficiency is exceptional, with container clearance taking as little as 30 minutes in urgent situations.