Hong Kong’s financial services sector will be able to play a more important and diverse role as Asia’s economy continues to grow rapidly, Paul Chan Mo-po, the city’s financial secretary, said in his Sunday blog.

He said the economy of the entire Asian region has shown strong resilience despite the impact of geopolitics.

Asia contributes about 60 percent to the world’s economic growth, with the International Monetary Fund predicting that the economic growth rate of developing areas in Asia will be between 4.5 percent and 4.6 percent this year and next year respectively — much higher than the average of 1.4 percent to 1.5 percent of developed economies.

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In the rising region, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region serves as a significant link between the Chinese mainland and the rest of the world. The city’s recent foreign trade performance also reflects the positive trend. The largest cumulative increase in exports in the first five months of this year was to Vietnam — about 59 percent — while exports to Japan and the mainland went up by 20 percent and 18 percent respectively.

However, Chan said the global political and economic landscape is being reshaped, and emerging economies face many challenges.

By leveraging Hong Kong’s status as a free port and a superconnector, as well as its advantages in investment, innovation, and technology, he said the HKSAR is able to facilitate emerging Asian economies to pursue more promising development through technology and innovation.

Financial technology, in particular, has great potential for application in cross-border trade. The goal is to serve the real economy by solving long-standing problems such as the slow speed and high cost of cross-border payments, the finance chief said.

The Policy Statement 2.0 on the Development of Digital Assets in Hong Kong issued by the HKSAR government last week said one of the aims of the four-pillar framework is to promote application scenarios and cross-sectoral cooperation.

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To solve the problems in payment and capital market activities, including cross-border remittance, the policy statement said stablecoins provide a cost-effective alternative to the traditional financial system.

The Stablecoins Ordinance will take effect on August 1, requiring any individual or entity issuing fiat-backed stablecoins in Hong Kong, or those claiming to be pegged to the Hong Kong dollar regardless of where they are issued, to secure a license from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority.

Chan said the HKSAR government and financial regulators are committed to creating a favorable market environment, coupled with necessary regulatory measures, encouraging stablecoin issuers to expand their applications to different scenarios.