About 20 members attended the Council's Annual General Meeting. 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. We also continued to develop ties with other organizations.

Mr. William Chao, Mr. Horst Geicke and Mr. Benjamin Lam 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 11 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, SBS, JP, Managing Director of Milo's Knitwear (International) Ltd

9) Mr. Raphael Tong, Managing Director of Shanghai Mister Softee Food Products Co Limited

10) Mr. Benjamin Lam, Executive Director & Deputy CEO of Pacific Century Premium Development Ltd

11) Mr. Knattapisit Krutkrongchai, Head of Business Strategy of AIA International Limited

We were honored to have a special guest joining us as our keynote speaker at the luncheon right after our Annual General Meeting, Dr Kobsak Pootrakool.

Dr Kobsak Pootrakool serves as a Vice Minister at Office of Prime Minister of Thailand under the government led by General Prayuth Chan-ocha, Prime minister since January 2016. He also served as the former member of the Constitution Drafting Committee before being appointed as Vice Minister.

Dr Kobsak joined Bangkok Bank in December 2010 as Executive Vice President, International Banking Group. He achieved several projects including banking license approval from the Central Bank of Myanmar in 2015.

From 1996 to 2010, he was a former senior executive with the Bank of Thailand (BOT) and the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET). He helped develop and implement monetary policy and financial institution policy, and was Division Executive of the Monetary Policy Strategy Division. He was seconded to the SET from 2008 to 2009 as Senior Vice President (Strategic Planning) and Executive Director of the SET Research Institute for Capital Market.

Dr Kobsak's awards include the Puay Ungpakorn Medal in 2009, given to the best young economist in Thailand. He has published extensively, within Thailand and internationally, and is a frequent media commentator. He holds a PhD in macroeconomics and international economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a BA in mathematics and economics from Williams College.

Dr Kobsak's insight into Thailand's financial and economic situation will be of great interest to all HKTBC members.