4th AMRO Forum on Nov 25: ASEAN+3 finance leaders meet in Hong Kong to discuss ‘Fragmentation to Resilience’

4th AMRO Forum: The ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO) is set to host the 4th ASEAN+3 Economic Cooperation and Financial Stability Forum (AMRO Forum) on Tuesday, November 25, 2025 (09:00–15:00 HKT/GMT+8), in hybrid format from Hong Kong, China. 

Co-organized with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) and the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), the forum is designed as a regional platform for policy-makers, regulators, academics and market leaders to exchange ideas on safeguarding macro-financial stability in a fragmenting world. 

This year’s theme—“Fragmentation to Resilience: Macro-financial Stability and Regional Integration in ASEAN+3”—reflects concerns about trade tensions, geoeconomic blocs and financial-market volatility, even as AMRO’s latest outlook notes that ASEAN+3 remains broadly resilient with growth around 4.1% in 2025. 

What is the AMRO Forum?

The AMRO Forum is AMRO’s flagship high-level conference on economic cooperation and financial stability in the ASEAN+3 region (ASEAN + China, Hong Kong, Japan and Korea). It aims to: 

• Share regional surveillance insights and policy lessons;
  
• Discuss near-term macro-financial risks and spillovers;
  
• Explore medium- to long-term reforms for regional safety nets and integration.
  

The 4th edition continues a series that has gradually evolved into a track-1.5 style forum, combining official sector voices (finance ministries, central banks, regulators) with academics and private-sector economists. 

Date, format and partners

Key details: 

• Date: Tuesday, November 25, 2025
  
• Time: 09:00–15:00 HKT (GMT+8)
  
• Format: Hybrid – in-person in Hong Kong, China, with online participation via live stream
  
• Organizers:
  
  • AMRO (ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office)
    
  • Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA)
    
  • Bank for International Settlements (BIS)
    

Participants are invited to register online via AMRO’s event page. 

Theme: From fragmentation to resilience in ASEAN+3

The official theme is “Fragmentation to Resilience: Macro-financial Stability and Regional Integration in ASEAN+3.” 

According to AMRO, the region faces three intertwined challenges:

1. Safeguarding financial stability amid global trade and capital-flow fragmentation;
   
2. Strengthening macro-financial resilience to shocks from tariffs, supply-chain reconfiguration and higher-for-longer interest rates;
   
3. Sustaining long-term prosperity while navigating a more uncertain, multipolar economic order.
   

AMRO emphasises that although ASEAN+3 has made “substantial progress” in cooperation over recent decades, today’s global transformation demands a higher degree of collective action—precisely what the forum is meant to support. 

Program: Two high-level sessions, heavyweight speakers

Opening segment

The forum opens with remarks from: 

• Yasuto Watanabe, Director/CEO, AMRO
  
• Eddie Yue, Chief Executive, HKMA
  
• Tao Zhang, Chief Representative for Asia and the Pacific, BIS
  

Session 1 – 

Macroeconomic Risks and Regional Integration Amid Global Fragmentation

Keynote speeches (09:15–09:45): 

• Heiwai Tang, Director, Asia Global Institute, The University of Hong Kong (HKU)
  
• Barry Eichengreen, Distinguished Professor, University of California, Berkeley
  

Panel discussion (10:05–11:35), moderated by Dong He, Chief Economist, AMRO, with panelists from: 

• Bank Negara Malaysia (Deputy Governor Marzunisham Omar)
  
• Hong Kong Monetary Authority (Executive Director (Research) Haibin Zhu)
  
• AMRO Advisory Panel (Chair Chantavarn Sucharitakul)
  
• Citigroup (Chief Asia Economist Johanna Chua)
  

Topics are expected to include:

• Growth and inflation outlook for ASEAN+3;
  
• Spillovers from tariffs and global monetary tightening;
  
• How to deepen regional integration without amplifying risk.
  

Session 2 – 

The Changing Global Financial Landscape: Implications for Monetary and Financial Stability

Keynote speeches (13:00–13:30): 

• Julia Leung, CEO, Securities and Futures Commission (Hong Kong)
  
• Hyun Song Shin, Economic Adviser and Head of Monetary and Economic Department, BIS
  

Followed by a Q&A with Hyun Song Shin and then a panel discussion (13:50–15:00) moderated by Daniel Rees, Head of Central Bank Cooperation, BIS, with: 

• Zeno Ronald R. Abenoja, Deputy Governor, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas
  
• Min Soo Kwon, Deputy Governor, Bank of Korea
  
• Alicia Garcia-Herrero, Chief Economist for Asia Pacific, Natixis
  
• Arup Ghosh, Chief Rates Strategist (ASEAN & Korea), Standard Chartered Bank
  

This session focuses on:

• Market structure changes and the “new” global financial landscape;
  
• Implications for monetary policy transmission, capital flows and financial stability tools in Asia;
  
• How ASEAN+3 can strengthen regional safety nets and market infrastructure.
  

Why this forum matters for the region

Against the backdrop of:

• Heightened global uncertainty,
  
• Tariff shocks and geoeconomic fragmentation,
  
• A complex environment for capital flows and exchange rates,
  

AMRO’s latest ASEAN+3 Regional Economic Outlook still projects steady growth but stresses the need for stronger policy coordination and safety nets. 

The 4th AMRO Forum is therefore a space for:

• Aligning regional narratives on growth, risk and integration;
  
• Developing coherent policy responses (fiscal, monetary, macroprudential);
  
• Sharing practical lessons between central banks, regulators and markets.
  

For practitioners, it is also a rare opportunity to hear top global economists and regional policymakers on a single stage, with the option to join virtually. 

From fragmentation to cooperation

Seen through a Satgyan lens, the theme “Fragmentation to Resilience” is not just technical—it’s also ethical and spiritual:

• Economic fragmentation often reflects fear, mistrust and narrow self-interest among nations.
  
• Resilience, in a deeper sense, grows when economies practice cooperation, fairness and restraint in policy – values close to what saints like Sant Rampal Ji Maharaj describe as welfare of all.
  

If the ASEAN+3 region uses its financial strength to:

• Protect the poorest from crises,
  
• Share knowledge honestly,
  
• And design rules that are just, not only profitable,
  

then its move from fragmentation to resilience will be not merely macroeconomic, but also dharmic—aligned with higher justice.

Read Also: 47th ASEAN Summit in Malaysia: East Timor Joins, Geopolitics, Trade & Neutrality Challenge

FAQs: 4th AMRO Forum on Nov 25