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Town Hall Forum Series Secretary for Economic Development and Labour Stephen Ip (seated right), and Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Frederick Ma (centre), kicked off the Chamber's Town Hall Forum Series with a frank talk with members on February 14. Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands Michael Suen and Secretary for Home Affairs Patrick Ho spoke with members on February 21 and 24 respectively. The Chamber is organising the series to help members better understand the responsibilities of the SAR's Principal Officials. To encourage a free exchange of ideas, the meetings are closed-door.

Americas

Sunny Ho, executive director, HK Shippers Council, briefed members at the Americas Committee meeting on January 24 about the U.S. Customs "24-hour rule," which came into effect in February. Following the meeting, James Thompson, chairman of AmCham and CE of Crown Worldwide Group of Companies in Hong Kong, spoke at a roundtable luncheon on "Prospects of the U.S. Economy in 2003".

The Asia/Africa Committee met on January 27 to discuss a working plan for the committee in 2003. Members decided to hold more networking events with other chambers in the Asia-Pacific and African region. Sun-Bae Kim, managing director of Goldman Sachs (Asia) LLC, spoke at a roundtable luncheon following the meeting on the challenges and prospects of South Korea's economy.

China

Shen Danyang, president, CCPIT Xiamen Sub-Council, called on the Chamber on February 7 to promote the 7th China International Fair for Investment & Trade, which will be held on September 8 this year in Xiamen. Mr Shen said several new initiatives would be introduced at this year's fair. Chamber CEO Dr Eden Woon told Mr Shen that the Chamber would organize a delegation to visit the fair, and both parties agreed to co-host promotional activities in April this year to promote the event to the foreign business communities in Hong Kong.

Zhang Jinsheng, director, Shenzhen WTO Affairs Centre, met with Chamber Senior Director WK Chan and members of the Chamber's International Business Division on February 13 to exchange views on the impact of China's WTO membership on Hong Kong and Shenzhen.

Europe

Michalis Rokas, first secretary, Trade and Economic Affairs of the EU Office of the European Commission, brief members of the Europe Committee at their February 14 meeting on the priorities of the EU office in 2003. After the meeting, Andreas Gunnewich, regional Bundesbank manager, and Frank Sperling, head of German Multinational Corporates, NE Asia, DZ Bank AG, spoke at a roundtable luncheon entitled, "From Europhobia to Europhhoria?".

Mr Sperling's Speech    Mr Sperling's Slides

PBEC

PBEC International President Dalton Tanonaka briefed members at a committee breakfast meeting on February 11 about the "New PBEC" and the planned initiatives to add value to PBEC membership and raise its profile. Mr Tanonaka was appointed president of PBEC last October.

CEPA

The HKCSI continues to be involved in the studies on CEPA, and in January wrote a paper on CEPA's benefits, entitled "The CEPA Consultations -- Keeping Up the Momentum," which was submitted by Chamber Chairman Christopher Cheng to the HKSAR Chief Executive.

Service Industries

MH Au, senior assistant director of OFTA, spoke at the Information Services Committee meeting on January 27 about the China Telecom pricing changes. Dr John Ure of Hong Kong University also spoke at the meeting on the development of mobile services.