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BUSINESS
October 2001 Issue  World services leaders met to drive the global economy
Five hundred delegates attended the Second World Services Congress on September 20-21, the biggest gathering in Hong Kong of service sector practitioners involved in multilateral trade policy to promote globalisation of service industries. Organised by the Chamber and its service policy think-tank the Hong Kong Coalition of Service Industries, the congress was titled 'Services: The Driver for the Global Economy.'The tragic event in New York and Washington on September 11, which saw many lives lost as a result of an atrocious terrorist attack, was remembered both in the opening and the congress dinner. As Chamber Chairman Christopher Cheng observed in the opening address, the event has given the congress 'additional resolve to continue on the path to globalization, to a better life for everyone. This is why this conference has taken on new significance, to show to the world that development of the service sector -- including the financial sector which was so hard-hit last week -- is beneficial to all, and our efforts must continue.'
The congress itself was marked by keynote speeches by reputed
personalities, such as HKSAR Financial Secretary Antony Leung and A special feature of the congress was the strong presence of Mainland
Chinese delegates. These included Vice President (Vice Minister) Lu Zhiqiang of the
Development Research Centre of the State Council, who gave another globalisation speech
from the Chinese point of view; Deputy Secretary General of State Development Planning
Commission Mr Li Tiejun who elaborated on the The congress dinner was one of the highlights of the event, at which WTO Director General Mike Moore delivered a speech from Geneva -- via video -- calling on support for a new round of broad-based negotiations. A three panel member including Andrew Buxton, chairman of European Services Forum, WTO 's Hamid Mamdouh and Australian lawyer John McGuigan provided more meat for discussion in a post-dinner forum entitled 'making good guys out of globalisation.'While globalisation was the unifying theme, the congress broke out into 10 different groups to discuss a wide range of topics, from the General Agreement on Trade in Services, to the China market, e-commerce, travel and tourism, film and entertainment, financial services, telecommunications, logistics, professional services, and investment promotion. Every subject that is significant for the service industries is covered in the congress. More importantly, unlike usual conferences of speech making and questions/answers, the WSC goes further by producing a set of conclusions and recommendations arising from the discussion of seven out of the ten breakout workshops.
In addition, four major service industry organisations -- U.S. Coalition of Service Industries, European Services Forum, Japan Services Network and HKCSI -- joined to issue a statement during the congress in support of a new round of WTO negotiations to liberalise services trade. Besides the official agenda, the congress provided the venue for a number of 'associated meetings.' An academic forum was held for scholars to present papers on issues relating to developing countries. The financial leaders group organised by the U.S. and E.U. counterparts also took the opportunity to meet. The Global Services Network, the network
of service sector organisations, met twice to discuss common positions on the WTO and the
way forward for services liberalisation.
A luncheon speech by Dr Victor Fung, chairman of the Hong Kong Airport Authority, rounded off a highly successful congress, further reinforcing the message that globalisation not to be stopped and Hong Kong is inextricably part if it. |
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Although
some delegates were indeed prevented from coming due to the tragedy, the number of people
affected was small. One of those who could not make it was USCSI Chairman Dean O
Mitsubishi Group Chairman Minoru Makihara, who
both gave a boost to globalisation in their speeches.
Tenth Five Year Plan during the Congress Lunch;
and Vice Chairman (Vice Minister) An Chengxin of the China Council for Promotion of
International Trade who gave a speech about the China market. 
These were
discussed thoroughly in a plenary session chaired jointly by Chamber Director Dr Eden Woon
and Asian Institute of Management President Mr Roberto Ocampo. The conclusions are
submitted to the WTO and other bodies to help shape the way forward for services policy
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