| Speaker(s) |
 | Betty Yuen (Welcome Remarks)
Chairman
Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce
Betty Yuen, Chairman of Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce, is a member of the HKSAR Election Committee, an ex-officio member of Hong Kong Trade Development Council and a member of HKSAR Government’s Human Resources Planning Commission. She has been appointed by the HKSAR Government in various committees to provide government with advice.
Yuen is Vice Chairman of CLP Power Hong Kong Limited, responsible for the strategic direction of CLP Group’s electricity business in Hong Kong and mainland China. Mrs. Yuen was the Managing Director of CLP Power for seven years, responsible for providing electricity service to 80% of Hong Kong’s population.
Yuen received a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Toronto in Canada. A qualified accountant, she has a strong business, management, finance and accounting background & had held a number of senior management positions in PricewaterhouseCoopers and ExxonMobil before joining CLP in 1999. |  | Yasuyuki Murahashi (Keynote Presentation)
Director General
JETRO Osaka (for Kansai and Hokuriku regions)
Yasuyuki Murahashi was appointed Director- General of JETRO (Japan External Trade Organization) Osaka in August, 2022. Previously, Murahashi served as Chief Director General of JETRO India. He has managed five offices (New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengalure, Ahmedabad) in India.
He joined JETRO in 1989 after graduating Keio University in Tokyo with a bachelor’s degree in political science. His previous overseas postings were JETRO offices in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia, 1993-1997), Tel-Aviv (Israel, 1999-2003), Riyadh (Saudi Arabia, 2009-2013), Istanbul (Turkey, 2015-2018) and New Delhi (India, 2019-2022)
He has a deep knowledge on business development, trade and invest promotion in emerging market specially Middle East, South & East Asia and Africa region. |  | Oscar Chow
Non-Executive Director
Chevalier International Holdings Ltd
Oscar Chow is a Non-Executive Director of Chevalier International Holdings Limited and the Managing Director of Polaris Holdings Limited, a company founded by Oscar. He is also a General Committee Member of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce.
Since the establishment of Polaris in 2015, Oscar has been actively investing in the food and beverage industry in the region, including the acquisition of Daimon Brewery, a 200 year old sake brewery in Osaka. Other portfolio companies under Polaris also have active relationships with Japan in terms of franchises, branded products distribution, and sourcing.
Polaris also serves as family office for the family. In the last decade, seeing the growth of ski tourism in the region, Oscar has invested in multiple property development projects in Furano, Niseko and Hakuba. |  | Lim Kiah Meng
Director
SIS Hospitality Holdings Limited
Lim Kiah Meng has over 30 years of experience in the IT industry and real estate investments. He has been with SiS Group since 1986 and currently serves as the Director for the Group's operations in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Japan. Lim has been involved in the group's development and corporate planning.
Lim is also the Director of SiS Hospitality Holdings Ltd which focus in property investment in Japan and has a portfolio of 22 hospitality properties across major cities such as Tokyo, Osaka, and Sapporo. |  | Yuko Sakata
Manager for Business Promotion, Business and International Promotion Division
Economic Strategy Bureau, Osaka City Government
Yuko Sakata joined the Osaka City government in April 1995 and has worked in various aspects of the civil service since.
In April 2021, Sakata was appointed to take charge of promoting the city to foreign companies at Business and International Promotion Division, Economic Strategy Bureau.
The bureau cooperates with JETRO Osaka and other relevant organizations to promote business advantages of Osaka and support foreign companies that wish to expand their business into the area.
In conjunction with Osaka Prefecture and the Osaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the city government established the Osaka Business and Investment Centre (O-BIC) as a one-stop service provider of the support for anyone who wishes to set up business in Osaka. |  | Mikiko Kigawa
Chief Director
JETRO Nara
Mikiko Kigawa joined JETRO in 2002 and has worked in a wide range of positions to promote import and export trades, including agricultural and marine food products, machinery and environmental industry. She spent 3 years in Germany at JETRO Dusseldorf as well as at number of JETRO offices across Japan, supporting SMEs and industries in different capacities, gaining broad perspectives.
Since 2015, Kigawa has specialised in JETRO’s Invest Japan initiatives, planning and designing the support program for foreign companies expanding into Japan at JETRO HQ in Tokyo. She moved to Kansai area to head JETRO Nara office in February 2022, and has been working closely and cultivating ties with the local governments, industry players and universities since. |  | Seizo Tsuji
Director
Service Industry Investment Promotion Office, Wakayama Prefecture Government
Seizo Tsuji heads up Wakayama Prefecture’s efforts to attract high-end accommodation facilities to the area, covering overseas interests, especially from Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia.
Previously, Tsuji was in charge of negotiations between the prefectural government and overseas counterparts regarding economic exchange. His achievements include: a joint statement with the Indonesian Ministry of Industry and Ministry of Commerce, a MOU with the Thai Ministry of Industry and Ministry of Commerce, and a MOU with the Vietnamese Ministry of Commerce and Industry. He has also organized business missions to India, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Myanmar, Hong Kong, and Taiwan from Wakayama. He currently studies law at Keio University. |  | Marina Tsuda
Hotel Investment Promotion
Nara Visitors Bureau
Marina Tsuda promotes overseas investment in the hospitality sector for Nara, at the government’s tourist bureau. She is a professional real estate advisor in commercial real estate at JLL, and has experience in the fields of property transactions, client advisory, serviced office provider, hotel management, inbound tourism promotion in her active career. She’s been recognized for successful performance in business promotion and sales in the various positions she undertook in bilingual environment. Tsuda is a native of the Kansai region and studied English in Osaka and Australia. |  | Kosuke Kimura
Deputy Director, International Business and Investment Division
Department of Commerce, Industry, and Labor, Osaka Prefecture Government
Kosuke Kimura joined the Osaka Prefectural Government in 2010. Since then, he has been working with SMEs in the prefecture to support their overseas expansion and business management, as well as providing support for the export of local agricultural, forestry and fishery products.
In addition, Kimura is in charge of promoting Osaka to foreign companies, including promoting the prefecture in other countries and supporting business development of the overseas companies expanding into Osaka. The Osaka Prefecture and City governments work jointly and through the Osaka Business and Investment Centre (O-BIC), which was co-established with the Osaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry to support any interest into the area. |  | Tomohiro Takashima
Director General
JETRO Hong Kong
Tomohiro Takashima is a Director-General of JETRO Hong Kong since July 2019.
Prior to current his responsibility, Takashima was Director General of Invest Japan Department at JETRO headquarters in Tokyo since December 2016.
He launched attracting overseas startups with the aim of creation of innovation in Japan through the business activities of foreign affiliated companies. He also promotes attracting investments to local regions.
He served as a Director of Public- Relation Division and a Director of Secretariat Office and Chief Personal Assistant for Chairman & CEO at Head Office between 2008 and 2015.
Takashima also worked at JETRO Lagos, London and Bangkok offices and supported global operations of Japanese companies between 1993 and 2008. |
|