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Seizing Opportunities to Strengthen Hong Kong's Future Competitiveness |
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Remarks by David L. Cunningham
2009 AmCham Chairman
AmCham Chairman’s Inauguration Luncheon
January 9th, 2009, 1:30 PM
Hong Kong
Introduction
Good Afternoon and Happy New Year. It’s a great honor to have been selected to serve as your Chairman for 2009.
I want to take this opportunity to thank our outgoing 2008 Chairman, Steve DeKrey, for his tremendous leadership over the past year.
With Steve at the helm, we made great progress on our vision to position Hong Kong as the source for Asia’s talent needs and raised AmCham’s voice in the media to inspire action on issues important to our members.
Thank you again Steve for your outstanding work!
I am also delighted to welcome incoming Vice-Chair, Mike Brown, as well as four new members on the Board of Governors who will begin their role this year. Brian Brenner of DTZ, Belinda Lui of Microsoft, James Sun of Charles Schwab, and Shengman Zhang of Citi.
It is a terrific team that demonstrates that AmCham has many dedicated and accomplished members ready to volunteer their time and experience to advance our mission.
It is traditional for the Chairman to talk briefly about the strength of the Chamber and the accomplishments of the past year.
But I’m not going to do that today: this audience knows that the Chamber is strong and that it has a proud history of success and accomplishment. In fact, this year, AmCham is celebrating its 40th anniversary of proud service to the Hong Kong community.
Instead, I want to focus on how we maintain AmCham’s relevance in today’s challenging environment and how we can work together to strengthen Hong Kong’s competitiveness as a World City.
It is clear that the current economic crisis is different: For the first time in more than a generation, two of the engines of global integration – trade and capital flows - have simultaneously shifted into reverse.
Hong Kong has faced difficult external problems before and has always found the inner strength to succeed – recall the Asian financial crisis of 1997, and the last US-led recession in 2000-2002.
How will we respond this time around?
Maintaining Hong Kong’s competitiveness in the long run will require greater focus on strengthening Hong Kong’s overall advantages, not just focusing on the traditional strengths of financial services and trans-shipment logistics.
We must strengthen the fundamentals that have always made Hong Kong a great place to do business - a welcoming business environment, supported by an effective legal system, a low and simple tax structure and its excellent geographic location.
Based on my personal poll, your Board is brimming with many terrific ideas about how we can help enliven Hong Kong’s business climate.
And we are committed to executing on those, with your support.
Here are our five priorities in 2009, where we believe AmCham can be a force for positive action.
1. First, as the mainland continues to enhance its economic structure and merge with the global economy, AmCham will remake its role in connecting businesses here with opportunities in China.
For many years, we have been a key source of information and guidance for American businesses trying to understand how Hong Kong can act as a gateway to doing business in Mainland China.
It’s now time to change people’s mindsets so that Hong Kong is seen not only as the world’s best gateway into China, but also as the best gateway to the world for China’s increasingly large number of world-class companies.
To this end, AmCham plans to reinstitute a “China Affairs Desk” which will be a resource for the growing number of mainland companies looking for investment opportunities abroad – especially into the U.S. By Chinese New Year, we will have six Mandarin speakers to assist these companies.
We will also continue to lobby for the right conditions for trade and business development with China through our Doorknock advocacy programs to Washington.
2. Second, we will find ways to address the challenges entrepreneurs and SMEs face doing business in Hong Kong by working closely with the Government to develop steps to maintain employment and increase business.
One of AmCham’s most important roles is to support the membership through advocacy and representing the interests of members even more strongly than we have in the past. We will use our influential public profile to effect change on public policy issues that affect our members, whether it be with the governments of HKSAR, Mainland China or the U.S.
Why do we do all this? Because when our members are facing difficult times, the chamber’s role in connecting people, advocating for action, and keeping them informed is more important than ever.
3. Third, logistics has always been one of Hong Kong’s most important economic pillars. To ensure Hong Kong’s competitiveness, we must continue to take advantage of our geographic location and infrastructure to enhance the SAR’s role as a key regional logistics hub.
With the increasing volume of trade and direct transportation between Taiwan and the mainland, it is important for Hong Kong to review its role and address any cross-border challenges to ensure that it provides the relevant connectivity that the Pearl River Delta region needs for its growing business opportunities.
We all know that Hong Kong’s location positions it as a key gateway to and from China, Asia and the rest of the world, However, Hong Kong can only remain a gateway if it continues to be supported by the appropriate tax incentives, infrastructure development, and talent pool - which brings me to my fourth priority.
4. If talent is the way to business success, it’s education that nurtures that talent.
At a personal level, business people need to know their children can get a world-class education in Hong Kong. The current education system does not suit all needs, such as special educational or other needs.
At the business level, we must sustain and grow the rich pool of multi-lingual, globally savvy professionals working and living in Hong Kong. This means ensuring availability of quality education, and improving English language proficiency which remains among the weaker performance indicators highlighted in our Business Outlook Survey.
5. Lastly, the environment grows daily in importance to this very talent pool we’re talking about. In AmCham’s Environment Survey published last October, pollution and its adverse effects were key factors hindering Hong Kong’s competitiveness.
According to the survey, 88% of the respondents regarded air pollution as the most important environment issue. And close to 70% indicated that they knew of professionals – and their families and children – who have either left or are considering leaving Hong Kong because of the poor quality of the natural environment.
We must continue to work closely with the Hong Kong government to improve our environment, through the introduction of programs like recycling and the reduction of roadside pollution.
In summary, today’s economic crisis demands we take resolute action to strengthen our competitiveness for when the good times return.
We must recognize that Hong Kong cannot only stand on its traditional strength such as the financial sector.
We must seize the opportunity to help Chinese companies walk on the world stage.
No group is better positioned to advocate the causes of entrepreneurs and SMEs than this one before me.
We need your creativity and passion in tackling obstacles to educational developments, and environmental improvements.
This, ladies and gentlemen, is how we can help Hong Kong become more competitive. These are the things that AmCham and I are committed to addressing together with the government.
Conclusion
It is a privilege to be taking on the role of Chairman and I’ll commit my utmost to ensure that we as leaders of AmCham make a difference in an organization that is adaptive, resilient and ready for the challenges of tomorrow and beyond.
But most importantly, AmCham is only as successful as we all want it to be. Here at AmCham we have a wonderful mix of U.S. and non-U.S. companies with about half being non-U.S. companies. We welcome them all. With your active support and participation, AmCham will continue to be the leading and most influential foreign business organization in Asia’s World City.
We have much to accomplish this year and with your support we will bring change and action that matters to Hong Kong.
Thank you and I wish you all a great start to 2009. |
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