Hong Kong officials and business leaders used this year’s GBA-ASEAN Summit to cast the city as a “super connector” between Southeast Asia and China’s Greater Bay Area (GBA), pointing to rising trade, investment, and innovation links between two of Asia’s fastest-growing economic blocs.

The summit, organized by SCMP Live, the events arm of the South China Morning Post (SCMP), brought together more than 300 government officials, corporate leaders, institutional investors, and other delegates from Hong Kong, mainland China, and ASEAN, with virtual participants joining from around 30 countries and regions, according to organizer figures.

This year’s event expanded its focus beyond Hong Kong-ASEAN ties to include the GBA, with part of the program hosted in Qianhai, Shenzhen. Speakers framed the shift as a reflection of the growing overlap between ASEAN’s manufacturing, consumer, and green economy opportunities and the GBA’s capital, technology, logistics, and industrial base.

In a keynote speech, Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee said ASEAN has been Hong Kong’s second largest merchandise trading partner for 16 consecutive years. Bilateral trade in goods grew 29% year-on-year to USD 214 billion in 2025, while services trade rose 10% to USD 20 billion in 2024, making ASEAN Hong Kong’s third largest trading partner in services, he said.

Investment ties have also expanded. Since the signing of a free trade agreement between ASEAN and Hong Kong, China, nearly a decade ago, Hong Kong’s outward investment into ASEAN has risen 54%, Lee said.

“Hong Kong’s goal, as always, is to create connections, and to add value to your companies, your investors and your economies,” Lee said. “We believe, after all, in mutual growth over unilateralism.”

The summit’s broader message was that Hong Kong aims to serve as more than a financial center. Officials and business leaders presented it as a base through which ASEAN companies can access the GBA, while mainland Chinese firms use the city to expand into Southeast Asia and other overseas markets.

According to Lee, around 830 ASEAN companies operated in Hong Kong in 2025, up 13% from the previous year, using the city’s legal, financial, and professional services infrastructure to access mainland China, including the GBA.

The GBA, which comprises Hong Kong, Macau, and nine mainland cities in Guangdong, has a population of more than 88 million people and a combined GDP comparable to that of the world’s tenth largest economy, Lee said. He added that the innovation cluster formed by Hong Kong, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou ranks first among the world’s top 100 innovation clusters.

Daryl Ng, chairman of the Hong Kong-ASEAN Foundation and founding patron of the ASEAN Chamber of Commerce Hong Kong (ACCHK), said ASEAN is home to nearly 700 million people and plays an increasingly important role in global supply chains, advanced manufacturing, and the transition to greener energy.

The GBA, meanwhile, recorded a GDP exceeding RMB 15 trillion (USD 2.2 trillion) in 2025 and remains one of China’s most active hubs for trade, logistics, and innovation, Ng said.

“Hong Kong, in the middle of GBA and ASEAN, is ideally positioned to act as a bridge connecting these two enormous catchments,” he said.

Ng said export trade between the GBA and ASEAN through Hong Kong amounted to HKD 680 billion (USD 86.7 billion) in 2025, while ASEAN ranked among Guangdong’s top three trading partners, with total trade reaching around RMB 1.5 trillion (USD 220.4 billion).

Capital markets were another theme. Ng cited the Hong Kong secondary listing of PT Merdeka Gold Resources, one of Asia’s largest gold mining companies, as an example of ASEAN firms using Hong Kong to broaden their investor base. He said several other ASEAN companies, including a Malaysian logistics firm and a Singapore-based biotech company, are considering Hong Kong listings this year.

The summit also marked the official launch of ACCHK. Ng said the chamber would work with the Belt and Road Office, Invest Hong Kong, and the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Offices to connect businesses, institutions, and leaders across Hong Kong, ASEAN, and the GBA.

Officials linked those efforts to Hong Kong’s longer-term policy agenda.

Lee said Hong Kong is seeking accession to the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, which he described as the world’s largest free trade bloc. He called for ASEAN leaders and stakeholders to support the establishment of an accession working group for the city.

He also pointed to Hong Kong’s first five-year plan, which is undergoing public consultation, saying it would include deeper cooperation with ASEAN and other Belt and Road economies through Hong Kong’s positioning in the GBA.

Invest Hong Kong, or InvestHK, framed the same strategy in terms of two-way flows. Arnold Lau, associate director general of InvestHK, said that Hong Kong remains the mainland’s largest destination for two-way investment. In 2024, direct investment from Hong Kong into the mainland amounted to USD 74 billion, or 64% of the mainland’s inbound foreign direct investment (FDI), while direct investment from the mainland into Hong Kong reached USD 160 billion, or 60% of the mainland’s outbound FDI, Lau said.

Lau added that Chinese companies are moving from export-oriented trade toward higher-value international expansion, including innovation, technology, and stronger brand-building in emerging markets. Hong Kong, he said, is positioned to support that shift through legal, financial, compliance, and professional services.

That policy push is being paired with infrastructure.

The Northern Metropolis, a large development zone in northern Hong Kong adjacent to Shenzhen, was presented as one of the city’s main vehicles for the strategy. Lee described it as a future economic engine and a world-class innovation, technology, and higher education hub, and invited ASEAN companies to invest in the area.

The project builds on Hong Kong’s existing technology ecosystem. Eric Or, chief ecosystem development officer at Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP), said its hub currently houses about 2,400 companies, including roughly 1,500 early-stage startups, with 26,000 people working on campus. He said 13 unicorns are based there, including companies that began in Hong Kong.

Or added that HKSTP and its related facilities are designed to support cross-border expansion in both directions: mainland Chinese companies using Hong Kong as a springboard overseas, and foreign companies using the city as an entry point into China.

Construction of the Hong Kong-Shenzhen Innovation and Technology Park (HSITP) is also accelerating in the Northern Metropolis. Vincent Ma, CEO of HSITP, said the park is expected to eventually include at least 60–70 buildings and reach a scale about four times larger than HKSTP’s facility.

Ma also said HSITP and its counterpart in Shenzhen are expected to form a cooperation zone supported by policies covering the flow of people, data, biosamples, and capital.

“Hong Kong, long a free port, is uniquely positioned to connect the two economic powerhouses,” Lee said. “We can enable the smooth flow of trade, investment and innovation, creating opportunities to reward both regions.”

Note: HKD, RMB figures are converted to USD at rates of HKD 7.84 = USD 1 and RMB 6.80 = USD 1 based on estimates as of June 30, 2026, unless otherwise stated. USD conversions are presented for ease of reference and may not fully match prevailing exchange rates.