The 2026 Horasis Asia Meeting took place on 8–10 July 2026 in Hengqin and Macau. The meeting convened senior business leaders, policymakers, investors, and innovators from across Asia and beyond for high-level dialogue on Asia’s economic outlook, strategic priorities, and global role at a time of profound transformation.
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Hengqin occupies a unique position within China’s development landscape. As a special cooperation zone closely associated with Macau and located just minutes away, Hengqin has been designated as a platform for cross-border innovation, services, and international exchange. Its integration with Macau’s global connectivity and institutional strengths makes the Hengqin–Macau area an increasingly important gateway linking the Greater Bay Area with wider Asian and global markets. The Horasis Asia Meeting concluded with a half-day program in Macau, underscoring the close functional and geographic ties between the two locations.
Against this backdrop, the Horasis Asia Meeting focused on the forces reshaping Asia’s economies, including digital transformation, technological innovation, resilient supply chains, green growth, capital flows, and human capital development. Discussions also examined how Asian economies can strengthen cooperation, manage geopolitical and trade uncertainty, and contribute to a more stable, inclusive, and sustainable global economy.
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| Tianmu Qintai Conference & Exhibition Centre in Hengqin – venue of the Horasis Asia Meeting |
The co-chairs were:
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Carlos Cid Alvares, Chief Executive Officer, Banco Nacional Ultramarino, Macau SAR |
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Rohit Bansal, Chief Communications Officer, Reliance, India |
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Claude Béglé, Chairman, Symbioswiss, Switzerland |
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Lisa Botos, Founding Partner, Private Partners & Co, Singapore |
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Anson Chan, Chairman and Managing Director, Bonds Group of Companies, Hong Kong |
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Michael Gale, Group Chief Executive Officer, Al Liwan Group, UAE |
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Matilda Ho, Founder and Managing Director, Bits x Bites, China |
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Viveka Kalidasan, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, River Ventures, Singapore |
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Rajive Kaul, Chairman, Nicco Group, India |
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Roger King, Founder and Chairman, ODS Holdings Inc., Hong Kong |
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Bill Kung, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Ecovane Environmental, China |
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Bonnie Liao, Executive Director, Social Enterprise Research Academy, Hong Kong |
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Skeikh Abdulla Zayed bin Saqr Al Nayhan, Chairman, Abdulla Bin Zayed Investment Group, UAE |
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Nguyen Quang Huan, Chairman, Halcom, Vietnam |
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Xiaoyin Qu, Founder, Skillboss.co, USA |
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Venkata Ramana, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, AVERA, India |
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Vinod Sekhar, Chairman, Petra Group, Malaysia |
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Charles Tang, President, Brazil China Chamber of Commerce, Brazil |
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Wang Dong, Executive Director, Institute for Global Cooperation and Understanding, China |
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Wang Huiyao, Founder, Center for China and Globalization, China |
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Wilfred Wong Ying-wai, Executive Vice Chairman & Exec. Director, Sands China, Macau SAR |
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Xiang Bing, Founding Dean, Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB), China |
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Michael Yeoh, President, KSI Strategic Institute for Asia Pacific, Malaysia |
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Zhang Yuxia, Chair, Zhongcai Financial New Media Fund, China |
The Opening Plenary on Asia and World Economic Outlook was chaired by Angela Li, News Editor and Contributing Host, Phoenix TV, Hong Kong SAR. Opening the discussion, Li observed that the region’s economic outlook had grown harder to read from the outside in recent years, precisely because so much of Asia’s growth is now generated within the region itself rather than through exports to the West. Despite persistent global headwinds and structural realignments, panelists agreed, Asia continues to demonstrate remarkable economic resilience and adaptability, with its sustained commitment to advanced manufacturing, supply-chain modernisation and real-economy resilience positioning the region as the world’s anchor of stable, high-quality growth. Carlos Cid Alvares, Chief Executive Officer, Banco Nacional Ultramarino, Macau SAR, opened by noting that Macau’s own diversification away from a single-pillar gaming economy mirrors the wider Asian story: economies that once depended on a narrow base of exports or a single industry are now building deeper, more resilient foundations. Viveka Kalidasan, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, River Ventures, Singapore, argued that Asian capital markets are increasingly self-sufficient, with regional venture and private capital now able to fund entire company life-cycles without recourse to Western exchanges. Venkata Ramana, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, AVERA, India, drew the audience’s attention to India’s continuing double role as both a manufacturing alternative and a consumption engine, while Xiang Bing, Founding Dean, Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB), China, closed the session by cautioning that China’s next phase of growth will be defined less by scale than by quality – by innovation, services and the green transition rather than by raw industrial output. Asia’s growing economic gravity, the panel concluded, is now a stabilising force for the world economy rather than merely a beneficiary of it.
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| Carlos Cid Alvares, Chief Executive Officer, Banco Nacional Ultramarino, Macau SAR | Viveka Kalidasan, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, River Ventures, Singapore, Making a point during the Opening Plenary |
Chaired by Suneet Puri, Regional Head China and Hong Kong, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Hong Kong SAR, the plenary on SDGs as Catalyst for High-Quality Development examined how Asian economies are embracing the UN Sustainable Development Goals not as a compliance exercise but as the architecture of a new, higher-quality model of growth – one that places environmental stewardship, social progress and transparent governance at the heart of long-term value creation. Lisa Botos, Founding Partner, Private Partners & Co, Singapore, argued that family offices across Asia are increasingly treating SDG alignment as a fiduciary duty rather than a marketing exercise, reflecting a generational shift among the region’s wealth holders. Bill Kung, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Ecovane Environmental, China, described how China’s environmental technology sector has matured from subsidised pilot projects into globally competitive exporters of wind and waste-management solutions. Bonnie Liao, Executive Director, Social Enterprise Research Academy, Hong Kong SAR, urged that social enterprise be treated as core economic infrastructure rather than a philanthropic afterthought, while Nguyen Quang Huan, Chairman, Halcom, Vietnam, reflected on Vietnam’s own experience of channelling infrastructure investment toward measurable development outcomes. The consensus among panelists: capital markets that reward transparency and long-termism will, over time, out-compete those that do not.
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| Opening Plenary – Asia and World Economic Outlook | Skeikh Abdulla Zayed bin Saqr AI Nayhan, Chairman, Abdulla Bin Zayed Investment Group, UAE |
Chaired by Jake Yu, Global Managing Partner, Peregrine Ventures, USA, the plenary session on Reimagining Globalization: Asia’s Vision for an Open World confronted the retreat toward protectionism and fragmentation visible in parts of the world, and asked how Asia might instead champion an open, inclusive model of global exchange. Roger King, Founder and Chairman, ODS Holdings Inc., Hong Kong, argued that Asia’s deepening economic integration and expanding trade architecture are already generating new models of cooperation capable of reinvigorating globalization for a new era. Vinod Sekhar, Chairman, Petra Group, Malaysia, spoke of the need for ‘social capitalism’ – enterprise that is unapologetically profitable while doing right by employees, customers and the environment – as the operating principle for a more resilient globalization. Michael Yeoh, President, KSI Strategic Institute for Asia Pacific, Malaysia, noted that ASEAN’s expanding web of trade agreements gives the region unusual flexibility to remain open even as larger powers turn inward. Wang Huiyao, Founder, Center for China and Globalization, China, closed by observing that China’s growing economic gravity gives it both the opportunity and the responsibility to help sustain a rules-based global trading order, one reshaped for a more multipolar world rather than one built around a single centre.
Speaking on behalf of the Chinese partner organization, Chen Chao, Managing Director, Hengqin Talent Group, China, remarked that Hengqin’s task was to make cross-border living as unremarkable as possible – shared healthcare, shared customs clearance, shared professional qualifications – so that talent could move as freely as capital already does.
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| Summit co-chair Vinod Sekhar, Chairman, Petra Group, Malaysia | Xiang Bing, Founding Dean, Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB), China |
The program then shifted its focus to technology, opening with the plenary on Technology as Asia’s Catalyst for Global Leadership. Session chair Rajive Kaul, Chairman, Nicco Group, India, argued that Asia’s technological ascendance is redefining global innovation paradigms and competitive dynamics. From quantum computing to artificial intelligence, panelists agreed, Asian institutions and enterprises are pushing the boundaries of technological possibility, creating new vectors for economic growth and social development. Michael Gale, Group Chief Executive Officer, Al Liwan Group, UAE, spoke of the deepening ties between Gulf capital and Asian technological execution, a partnership he expects to intensify. Matilda Ho, Founder and Managing Director, Bits x Bites, China, brought the conversation down to earth, arguing that Asia’s food-technology sector is quietly becoming one of the world’s most important laboratories for feeding a growing population sustainably. Srikar Reddy, Executive Vice Chairman, Sonata Software, India, argued that Asian technology firms are shifting from being cost-competitive service providers to genuine intellectual-property owners in their own right. Akira Tsuchiya, President, The Global Institute (TGI), Japan, closed the panel with a reminder that none of this technological leadership matters unless the workforce is retrained alongside it – a theme that would recur throughout the day’s dialogue sessions.
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| Then Londoner Macau – host venue of the Macau seminar on 10 July | Chen Chao, Managing Director, Hengqin Talent Group, China, welcoming participants during the Opening Dinner |
Following the plenary, participants joined twenty parallel dialogue sessions, intersected by a plenary on Asian Horizons in the Age of the 5th Industrial Revolution, chaired by Christina Lim, Founder and Chief Strategist, ChrisSpeak, Singapore. Panellists considered how Asia’s blend of technological dynamism and deep human tradition positions the region as a natural laboratory for exploring where machine intelligence and human capacity best complement one another. Claude Béglé, Chairman, SymbioSwiss, Switzerland, argued that the 5th Industrial Revolution, unlike its predecessor, must be judged not by efficiency alone but by whether it deepens rather than displaces human meaning – a philosophy he would return to two evenings later in Macau. De Kai observed that Asia’s manufacturing depth gives it an unusual advantage in industrial AI – the ability to deploy machine intelligence not in the abstract but directly on the factory floor. Wilfred Wong Ying-wai, Executive Vice Chairman & Executive Director, Sands China, Macau SAR, drew a direct line between Macau’s own hospitality-technology integration and the wider regional trend of humanising automation rather than merely applying it. Zhang Yuxia, Chair, Zhongcai Financial New Media Fund, China, closed by suggesting that the convergence of ancient collective wisdom with cutting-edge innovation offers the world new models for economies that are both highly advanced and deeply humane.
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| Plenary – Reimagining Globalization – Asia’s Vision for an Open World | Plenary – Asian Horizons in the Age of the 5th Industrial Revolution |
The Closing Plenary, Charting Asia’s Path Forward, chaired by Alejandro Reyes, Senior Fellow, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, gave participants the chance to reflect on the convergence of innovation, sustainability and economic transformation that had run through the two days of dialogue. Anson Chan, Chairman and Managing Director, Bonds Group of Companies, Hong Kong, urged the community to translate insight into action, warning against summits that generate enthusiasm but not follow-through. Skeikh Abdulla Zayed bin Saqr Al Nayhan, Chairman, Abdulla Bin Zayed Investment Group, UAE, spoke of the deepening Gulf-Asia investment corridor as a durable structural shift rather than a passing cycle. Janet Pau reminded delegates that Asia’s diversity is itself a competitive advantage, so long as regional institutions are built to reflect it rather than flatten it. Wang Dong, Executive Director, Institute for Global Cooperation and Understanding, China, closed the session – and the day – with a call for regional cooperation frameworks that are additive rather than exclusive, capable of strengthening Asia’s collective voice in global governance without closing doors to partners beyond the region.
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| Plenary – Technology as Asia’s Catalyst for Global Leadership | Plenary – SDGs as Catalyst for High-Quality Development |
Participants later transferred across the border to Macau. The day opened with a dedicated seminar at The Londoner Macau curated by the Macau Chamber of Commerce. Macau’s strategic position within the Guangdong-Macao In-Depth Cooperation Zone, the session argued, makes it a compelling destination for international investment, offering unique access to both Mainland China and global markets across finance, tourism and technology. Kevin Ho, Vice President, Macau Chamber of Commerce, Macau SAR, opened proceedings by setting out how Macau’s business community sees its role evolving within the Greater Bay Area – not as a satellite of the Mainland economy but as a specialised gateway combining Portuguese-language ties to Lusophone markets, a common-law-adjacent legal tradition, and deep familiarity with international finance. Elaine Wong, of the Commerce and Investment Promotion Institute of the Macao SAR, Macau SAR, outlined the concrete mechanisms through which international investors can access the Hengqin-Macau cooperation zone, from streamlined licensing to preferential tax arrangements for qualifying enterprises. Chan Chou Weng, Deputy Director, Macau Economic & Technological Development Bureau detailed the government’s own diversification strategy, emphasising technology, traditional Chinese medicine, modern finance and the ‘big health’ sector as the four pillars of Macau’s post-gaming economy. Jun Liu, Rector, City University of Macau closed the keynote segment by describing the university’s role in supplying the bilingual, cross-culturally fluent talent that this diversification will require, positioning Macau’s higher-education sector as an underappreciated asset in the wider Greater Bay Area story.
The keynotes gave way directly to a panel discussion chaired by José Carlos Matias, Chief Executive Officer, Macau Business bringing together Echo Chan, Chair, Macau European Chamber of Commerce, Constantino Mousinho, General Manager, Banco Comercial Português, John Teng, Chief Representative, PBEC, Hong Kong SAR, and Jeffrey Wong, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Spring Gate Capital, Singapore. The panel dwelt on the practicalities of doing business in Macau – regulatory clarity, banking relationships, and the softer question of how European and Asian business cultures continue to blend in a city shaped by five centuries of exactly that encounter. Closing remarks were delivered by Wilfred Wong Ying-wai, Executive Vice Chairman & Executive Director, Sands China, Macau SAR, who thanked the Macau Chamber of Commerce for curating a morning that had given delegates a concrete sense of the city’s opportunities.
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| Wilfred Wong, the host of the Macau-focused seminar on the last summit day | Closing Plenary – Charting Asia’s Path Forward |
The Horasis Asia Meeting has become the foremost annual gathering for Asian business leaders and their global counterparts. It offers a trusted platform for dialogue between business and government on the opportunities and challenges shaping Asia’s future. The location of the meeting rotates across the region and has previously been held in Bangkok, Thailand (2016), Kolkata, India (2017), Binh Duong New City, Vietnam (2018, 2019), digitally (2020, 2021), Kitakyushu, Japan (2022), Binh Duong New City, Vietnam (2023), Dubai, UAE (2024) and Hengqin/Macau (2026).