Co-organized by the Irish, Italian and Norwegian Chamber of Commerce, the 48th InterCham YP Cocktail provided an excellent opportunity for all of us to meet and mingle with professionals from over 27 different international chambers and business organizations in Hong Kong.
About 25 members attended the Council's Annual General Meeting. The year 2010 was an eventful one for Thailand and indeed the world, and the Council played its part in keeping members informed about the changing political and economic situation in the Kingdom and the affects of global events on Hong Kong and the Mainland. The Council continued to develop ties with other organizations. Our Chairman, Mr. Bernard Chan, GBS, JP, summarized the past activities of the Council and stressed that the mission in 2012 and beyond was again, to expand the number and range of activities.
Mr. Tom V. Chatjaval, Mr. Kenneth Gaw, Mr. Horst Geicke, Mr. William Chao, Mr. Benjamin Lam and Mr. Benjamin Cha were re-elected as Directors for the ensuing year. Simultaneously, Ernst & Young was re-appointed the Council's Honorary Auditors. The current Board of Directors consists of 12 directors:
1) Mr. Bernard Chan, GBS, JP, President of Asia Financial Group
2) Mr. William Chao, Managing Director of Wing Wah Limited
3) Mr. Tom V. Chatjaval, Founder and Chairman & CEO of TVC Management Ltd
4) Mr. Kenneth Gaw, President & Managing Principal of Gaw Capital
5) Mr. Horst Geicke, Chairman and Co-Founder of Pacific Alliance Group, VinaCapital Group
6) M. Clayton T. Hebbard, Consultant of Grant Thornton
7) Dr. Harry Lee, SBS, JP, Managing Director of TAL Apparel Limited
8) Mr. Willy Lin, Managing Director of Milo's Knitwear (International) Ltd
9) Mrs. Katherine Ngan, JP, Executive Director of May Cheong Toy Products Fty Ltd
10) Mr. Raphael Tong, Managing Director of Shanghai Mister Softee Food Products Co Limited
11) Mr. Benjamin Lam, Executive Director & Deputy CEO of Pacific Century Premium Development Ltd
12) Mr. Benjamin Cha, Executive Director of HKR International Ltd
We were honored to have a special guest joining us at the luncheon right after our AGM, Mr. Pana Janviroj, President of The Nation, Thailand. He is also Executive Director of Asia News Network (ANN), an alliance of 21 leading newspapers from 18 Asian Countries (including China Daily). He was editor of The Nation from 1996-2005. His keynote speech at our luncheon was "Thailand's Latest Political and Economic Development".
Dr. Rita FAN, currently a Member of the Standing Committee of the Eleventh session of the NPC, was elected as a Hong Kong Deputy to both the Ninth and Tenth sessions of the National People's Congress ("NPC") between 1998 and 2007.
In Hong Kong, Dr. FAN has served as President of the legislature of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region ("HKSAR") for 11 years, and became President of the Provisional Legislative Council in 1997. Prior to that, Dr. FAN was appointed to the Legislative Council from 1983 to 1992 and was a Member of the Executive Council from 1989 to 1992.
Dr. FAN was awarded the Gold Bauhinia Star and the Grand Bauhinia Medal in 1998 and 2007 respectively by the Government of the HKSAR.
In a recent SCMP poll, Mrs. Rita Fan was the favourite candidate for the election of Hong Kong's next Chief Executive.
The Financial Secretary, the Honorable John Tsang delivered the 2011-2012 Budget Speech at the Legislative Council on Wednesday, 23 February 2011.
The Joint Business Community Luncheon was an excellent and timely opportunity to learn directly from Mr. Tsang his further elaboration on this year's budget and how he would lead us for dealing with the global financial crisis and sustaining the economic prosperity for future growth of Hong Kong.
Co-organized by the Irish, Italian and Norwegian Chamber of Commerce, the 48th InterCham YP Cocktail provided an excellent opportunity for all of us to meet and mingle with professionals from over 27 different international chambers and business organizations in Hong Kong.
In May 2010, Greece was the first country to receive a multi-billion EU/IMF bail-out. The hope was that this would be a one-off, but the crisis has brought a seemingly endless route of twists and turns that have seen Ireland and Portugal join the bail-out list and brought about the most important re-think of the European project since the single currency was shaped in the late 1990's. Sovereign debt woes are not just a concern in the euro area, moreover. The US was placed on credit watch negative by S&P in April 2011 and Japan struggles with its own issues on public finances.
Can the Euro area build a fiscal framework this time? Are Japanese public finances the next domino? Is there still a safe-haven if the US is downgraded? Will bond markets or currencies shoulder the greater burden of adjustment to new sovereign risk premia? Will Greece restructure soon? Our top experts speakers from Societe Generale provided us an in-depth discussion of these questions and the implications for financial markets at this meeting on July 7.
China's national outline 12th Five Year Plan (12FYP) was approved in March 2011. In order to make sure you do good business and make sound investments during this period (2011 - 2015), you not only need to know what is in the 12FYP but you also need to understand the legal dimension of political succession in China and keep track of two very different generations of China's top decision-makers during this five year planning cycle (the two "horses"): China's current Fourth Generation leaders (Horse #1) who are now making this 12FYP and will be in charge of implementing it as it rolls out in 2011 but they will retire in 2012-13; and their Fifth Generation successors (Horse #2) who will take over leadership nation-wide in 2012-13 including all of 12FYP implementation work through end-2015. In what aspects will this rising new generation of leaders impact and your China plans be impacted by the laws related to succession, how will these new leaders differ from their predecessors, and how might these differences change the way in which China will be governed, how will the 12FYP be implemented and how can you optimize your business and investment in China during this period?
W. John Hoffmann is a well-known and leading China expert. He is the Co-Founder and Principle of Exceptional Resources Group - XRG and China Dialogues Network - CDN.
Tibor Baranski, Esq. is a well-respected and leading China lawyer. He is Counsel at Jun He Law Offices.
Co-organised by the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, AFF 2011 featured some of the world's most important persons in the financial sector and influential business leaders.
Under the theme "Asia: Reshaping the Global Agenda", AFF 2011 covered a variety of current issues, including how Asian enterprises compete in the global arena, policies to tackle inflationary pressure on assets and consumer prices, currency exchange rates and trade balance, internationalization of Renminbi, financial opportunities arising from resources scarcity, etc.