Our Chamber had a momentous month of April, with a 140th anniversary ball celebration on April 20, and with the election at the April 24 AGM of Christopher Cheng as our new chairman and with the addition of Manohar Chugh and Jeffrey Lam to our General Committee.

The 140th anniversary ball turned out to be a night of both reflection and celebration. Special guest Dr Li Ka-shing gave a thought-provoking speech on how he sees Hong Kong evolving in the 21st century, commenting on its strengths and weaknesses. This very successful Hong Kong businessman in fact articulated many points which the Chamber has argued for in recent years ?better education for our young, restraint on our cost of doing business, eyeing the Mainland for more in-depth cooperation possibilities, a sense of urgency to improve ourselves, and scanning the globe for the best talents to come here.

Therefore, Hong Kong is at a crossroads in its future positioning, and the same is true of the Chamber as expressed in a speech given by Christopher Cheng at the ball. He said that the Chamber must provide better service in new ways to attract and keep members, lobby the government, work with China, and reach out to the global business community. Members can be confident that new Chairman Christopher Cheng will dedicate himself to lead the Chamber in these efforts as we straddle three centuries in operation.