The Clinton Global Initiative meets outside America for the first time this week with the Hong Kong launch of CGI Asia. Adopting the successful format of annual meetings in New York, former US president Bill Clinton will challenge regional leaders to find creative solutions to contemporary problems. During two days of panel discussions and working sessions, the spotlight will fall on education, energy and climate change, and public health. While CGI Asia is an important platform for regional debate and analysis, it is also an occasion for Hong Kong to consider why and how it promotes itself as Asia's 'world city'. Seven years on from its launch at the Fortune Global Forum in Hong Kong in 2001, Brand Hong Kong is now subject to review. A fresh vision of Asia's world city will be unveiled at the Shanghai World Expo in 2010. To date, the Hong Kong brand has been defined by the city's core values and attributes. The positioning platform emphasises opportunity, creativity and entrepreneurship. Clearly, there is little to quarrel with here. Equally, however, there is little sense of how the city can provide leadership across Asia. Furthermore, although its financial and commercial sectors have long been key regional leaders, Hong Kong has rarely been a pioneer in wider social spheres. For sure, the city is very good at responding to emergencies like the Sichuan earthquake in May. But its track record in leading lasting social change across Asia is less distinguished. This is where Hong Kong can profit from hosting CGI Asia. Central to the CGI philosophy is a determination to deliver change. Every participant at every meeting must make a 'Commitment to Action' - 'a new, specific, and measurable initiative that addresses a social, economic, or environmental problem'. Since its inception in 2005, CGI has amassed hundreds of commitments. For Hong Kong to measure up as Asia's world city, it must make the CGI philosophy central to its identity. Stimulated by government, but also reaching out to the business and non-profit sectors, it must show it can take the lead in devising practical solutions to diverse social problems. Only in this way can it become a regional hub not simply for commerce and finance, but for social development. Moreover, at this time of economic crisis and gloomy job prospects, Hong Kong has an ideal opportunity to make better use of the extensive skills and talents of its young people. Hong Kong is now providing more education for more young people than ever. Yet many university graduates will fail next year to find work to match their abilities. Teach for All, an initiative launched at CGI's annual meeting last year, offers one exciting way forward. Since 1990, Teach for America has recruited recent college graduates and professionals to teach for two years in urban and rural public schools across America. It is now so prestigious that 2005 saw 12 per cent of Yale's graduating class apply. At CGI in September last year, Teach for America went global. Teach for All is precisely the kind of opportunity Hong Kong must seize if it is truly to be Asia's world city. Already, social leaders in India have created Teach for India. Hong Kong can reach still higher by creating Teach for Asia, and recruiting recent graduates from universities across the city to teach for two years in public schools throughout the region. Hong Kong graduates speak excellent Chinese and English. They are educated to exacting global standards. Their talents should be deployed both for social advance across Asia and for real personal growth among our future leaders. Hong Kong has a good claim to be Asia's world city. But to give substance to the vision, it needs to lead social development on a broad scale. That requires more than a relaunch of Brand Hong Kong. It also demands active social projects that deliver measurable gain. Teach for Asia, supported by a coalition of government, business and social actors, can be an important step. Professor Ian Holliday is dean of social sciences at the University of Hong Kong
