The first Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) forum finance ministers’ meeting to be held in Hong Kong focused on openness, cooperation and resilience. These themes go to the heart of a question confronting the city: as globalisation becomes more difficult and the rules and security boundaries governing international markets grow more complex, what can Hong Kong still offer cross-border commerce?
Globalisation is not over. Capital still seeks opportunities overseas, while technology, energy, raw materials and supply chains cannot simply retreat behind national borders. Yet geopolitics, industrial policy, technology controls, data governance and financial security increasingly shape investment decisions.
For decades, globalisation was largely about lowering costs and reducing barriers. Its next phase could be defined by a different challenge: how to keep cross-border transactions moving when borders matter again.