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.