MAIN PAGE | SPEECHES & EDITORIALS | 1999 | LUNCHEON KEYNOTE ADDRESS
PACIFIC BASIN ECONOMIC COUNCIL
MAIN PAGE | SPEECHES & EDITORIALS | 1999 | LUNCHEON KEYNOTE ADDRESS
Luncheon Keynote AddressThe Honorable Benjamin J. CayetanoGovernor, State of Hawaii, United States of America Wednesday, May 19, 1999 The Challenges of the Next Century for the Pacific Basin
PBEC Chairman Dr. Helmut Sohmen, Hong Kong, China Member Committee Chairman, Mr. John Strickland, Secretary General, Mr. Robert Lees, distinguished guests, Ladies and Gentlemen. It is a great privilege to be with this distinguished audience on PBEC's 32nd General International Meeting. As Governor of the State of Hawaii, I bring you the warmest greeting of "aloha" from the people of Hawaii. Hawaii and PBEC have had a long-standing relationship. This is not only because PBEC's International Secretariat, headed by your most able Secretary General, Robert Lees, is located in Honolulu. But also because some of the early formative meetings to establish PBEC took place in Hawaii. Back in 1968, plans for PBEC'S first International General Meeting were developed in Honolulu. At that meeting, business leaders from the United States and Canada agreed to join their counterparts from Australia, New Zealand, and Japan as founding members of PBEC. Since then, many of PBEC's steering committee meetings have been held in Hawaii. So, we are proud to claim PBEC as Hawaii's own. We are honored that PBEC's board of directors has already decided to convene the next IGM in Honolulu. Let me assure you we will make next year's IGM an experience you will always remember. It will be a key highlight of our New Millennium celebrations in the year 2000. And we believe we have a good chance to persuade President Clinton to address you in Hawaii next year. Hawaii, as everyone knows, is a world class vacation destination. Hawaii's beautiful beaches, its cool year round sunny tropical climate, its beautiful mountains, pristine environment, warm and friendly people and world class hotels are known to the world. Indeed, we have invested so much in marketing Hawaii as a tourist destination — that I believe if we stopped marketing Hawaii as such for the next 20 years, most people would still know what a great place Hawaii is to relax and vacation. What is not well known about Hawaii — is the fact that Hawaii is also a great place to do business. Now let me tell you a little bit about the Hawaii which is not well known to most of the world. HAWAII: AMERICA'S WINDOW TO THE PACIFIC. Hawaii is America's westernmost state, the closest to the nations of the Pacific Rim. Hawaii is a unique state — unlike the other 49 states which trace their roots to Europe -- about 70% of Hawaii's people trace their roots to Asia-Pacific. Since Hawaii achieved statehood in 1959, this tie to the Pacific has been reflected in Hawaii's political leadership. Hawaii gave the United States the first Chinese-American and Japanese-American United States Senators, the first Asian-American woman in the U.S. Congress, the first Japanese-American governor, the first Hawaiian-American governor and the first Filipino-American governor. All of these political leaders I just mentioned are the sons and daughters of Asian immigrants who sacrificed and immigrated to Hawaii seeking a better life. Great Asian political leaders such as Syngman Rhee, and Sun Yat Sen lived in Hawaii, attended Hawaii schools — and promoted their respective causes from Hawaii. This dual East-West character holds benefits for businesses from both sides of the Pacific. For American businesses, Hawaii is a comparably affordable platform offering the political stability of American law, a high quality of life, from which services and goods may be provided to Asia-Pacific. For Asia-Pacific businesses Hawaii's multi-ethnic culture, its low crime rate, make Hawaii a safe, comfortable and affordable place from which Asia-Pacific companies can service the mainland United States. When Hironobu Sakaguchi, the bright young CEO of Square USA, the world's foremost video game company was asked why he located his company in Hawaii — he joked, "Karaoke and good Japanese restaurants." For businesses from both sides of the Pacific, Hawaii offers a well-educated and skilled multilingual workforce, excellent educational institutions, a strategic mid-Pacific location and one of the best telecommunications infrastructure in the world. SKILLED WORKFORCE. Many people see Hawaii's people as a bit relaxed, warm and friendly, good musicians and dancers. What too many people don't know is that Hawaii has one of the most well-educated workforces in America. One in every four Hawaii worker over age 25 has a college degree — ranking Hawaii fifth best in the United States. Eight out of every ten workers graduated from high school. EXCELLENT EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS. The world knows about Hawaii's world class hotels but not many know that Hawaii also has a network of some of the finest educational institutions in the Pacific. The University of Hawaii is one of Asia-Pacific's best schools. The University of Hawaii's main campus, UH-Manoa, has the honor of being one of only 88 Carnegie One Research Institutions in the United States. The University of Hawaii has developed world class schools in the fields of astronomy, ocean marine sciences, diversified agriculture and biotechnology. Its linguistics programs are world ranked -- and its College of Business Administration's international business program is ranked 24th best in the United States. Another great educational asset is Hawaii's East-West Center. This unique educational institution brings together students from all over the world. Today, there are more than 47,000 East-West Center graduates and many of them occupy leadership positions in business and government throughout the Asia-Pacific region. These East-West Center alumni provide an extensive and valuable network which may prove highly useful to business development. Excellent private educational institutions such as Hawaii Pacific University — with its heavily internationalized student body, and the federally funded Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies -form a critical mass of solid educational assets, and provide not only a strong base for learning opportunities but also for research and development. MID-PACIFIC LOCATION. Everyone is aware of Hawaii's mid-Pacific location. But not everyone knows that it places Hawaii within a strategic time zone which gives Hawaii a unique competitive advantage: Honolulu is the only American city from which business can be done with companies in New York, Washington D.C., Hong Kong and Singapore in the same business day. Already, some major high tech corporations are using this advantage by setting up a variety of call centers in Hawaii to service their clients around the world. This strategic location has also made Hawaii America's foremost military base in the Pacific. For more than 50 years, Hawaii has been the command headquarters (CINCPAC) for all American military forces in the Asia-Pacific region. From Hawaii, America's top military commanders execute the strategic military decisions which can have a profound impact on the security of Asia-Pacific. TELECOMMUNICATIONS. Another fact not well known to business people is that Hawaii has one of the best telecommunications systems in the world. Hawaii has more fiber optic per mile per capita than any other American state. Hawaii serves as an international hub for trans-Pacific fiber and satellite communications networks. The supercomputer at Maui's High Tech Park and the advanced high technology weapons testing system at Kauai's Pacific Missile Range are examples of excellent high tech assets. UNMATCHED QUALITY OF LIFE. But Hawaii's greatest asset is its high and unmatched quality of life. Nowhere else in the world has such temperate year-round tropical climate. Hawaii's natural environment remains clean and beautiful. And the "Aloha Spirit" mitigates and tempers the kind of intolerance and conflict commonly found in other parts of the world. Hawaii has one of the lowest crime rates in the United States. We believe it is in part because in no other place in the world, do people of so many different races live and work in great harmony. BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES. Like most of Asia-Pacific Hawaii's economy has not fared well. Hawaii's economic growth has been a weak 1% a year since 1991. For wise investors, however, Hawaii offers some golden opportunities: real estate prices are 30-50% off what they were in the mid-1990s and have settled at 1988 levels. And industries such as healthcare, marine and agricultural biotechnology, high tech, multi-media and nutriceuticals are emerging with exciting growth potential. Moreover, our economists believe Hawaii's economy has bottomed out and Hawaii is on the road to a modest recovery. The restructuring and adjustments in Hawaii's economy have brought some positive results. Over the past 2 years, more than $2 billion in new retail investment has come to Hawaii. Our real estate market has been rebounding over the past two years and property prices are beginning to move up. And the Hawaii state government has implemented major tax reform with significant reductions in state personal taxes and general excise taxes. This is a side of Hawaii that many business leaders are not familiar with. And we hope to give you more information when you come to Hawaii next year. PBEC IGM 2000 IN HAWAII. In preparing for PBEC International General Meeting in Hawaii next year -- both business and government are committed to ensuring that next year's IGM will meet and exceed the very high expectations set here in Hong Kong. Indeed, a few weeks ago, the Hawaii State Legislature, by concurrent resolution, announced its wholehearted support for PBEC's IGM 2000. Hawaii is blessed with beautiful beaches, swaying palm trees, and a perfect climate. It has gained a reputation as a wonderful place to go for vacation. Hawaii's reputation as a world class tourist destination overshadows the fact that Hawaii is also a great place to do business. Unfortunately, we have become a victim of our own success. Hawaii is in fact a great place to do serious business, and a place where many important international meetings have taken place over the years. To assure the IGM in Hawaii is successful -- the government of the State of Hawaii has made a substantial investment in the success of the meeting. You'll notice in your Hawaii IGM brochure that the State of Hawaii is listed among the Diamond sponsors for this event. The business community, under the very capable leadership of Larry Johnson, Chairman and CEO of Pacific Century Financial Corporation, has made significant investments to ensure the success of the Hawaii IGM as well. I can tell you that you could not have hoped for a better Steering Committee Chairman than Larry Johnson — Larry's reputation in the business community is unmatched. I know that under his leadership, the entire Hawaii business community will make sure that the Hawaii IGM is everything — and more — you have come to expect. And now I would like you to view a short video presentation which tells you more about Hawaii. You'll see the beauty of our islands, its human, technological and natural assets, and why we think "Hawaii is a Great Place to do Business." Thank you. |