Wednesday, December 11, 2024 Dear Friends of PBEC, As we look ahead to celebrating 58 years since the founding of PBEC in 1967, we wanted to reflect on our journey and the pivotal role each of you plays in our continued success. From our origins in California USA to our current home in Hong Kong since 2003, our commitment to fostering economic collaboration in the Asia Pacific remains steadfast. In 2024, PBEC hosted and co-organized 32 events and meetings, significantly…
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PBEC successfully held its AGM 2024 at Isola Capital Investors lounge on the 28th November in Central, Hong Kong. Several directors and members joined the AGM via zoom live online from multiple countries including Malaysia, the Philippines, Hawaii, Vietnam, Japan, Thailand, Australia and the UK. New board of directors in Ben Usinger, Helen Campos, Natalie Chung, Dawn Westerhout, David Ching and Ha Do were elected. Whilst Chairman Andrew Weir and several existing BoD’s were successfully re-elected for a new term….
PBEC’s Natalie Chung and Daisy Shen Head of ESG KPMG China hosted a webinar on our recently published Scope 3 report in the blue zone at COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan to an audience of business leaders, academics and fellow NGO’s. Again a lot of great feedback and agreement on our takeaways and future action recommendations by stakeholders. Forming partnerships and sharing best practices are crucial between businesses and NGO’s/advisory firms to ensure a company’s framework and pathway to net-zero is…
1) Tan Sri David Chiu SBS JP (Senior Advisor –Govt APAC) 2) Rear Ad Monty Khanna (India –Economics & Defence) 3) Alberto Furger (Indonesia Real Estate) 5) Carl Heath (Australia- Business relations) 6) Prof Evodio Kaltenecker (USA/Latam) 7) Satoko Yahata (Japan- Government) 8) Eric Chang (Chinese Taipei – High Tech, A.I.) 9) Steven Wong (Malaysia/China Finance) 10) Thomas Wong (Latin America/China trade) 11) David Armitage (Canada –Government) 12) Luis Miguel Aboitiz (Philippines Economic) 13) Stephen Jacobi (New Zealand Trade) 14)…
CHINA LIFTS AUSTRALIAN BEEF BAN: China has this week lifted its last two suspensions of Australian meat processing plants. It originally banned exports from 10 plants at the height of a $20 billion trade row in 2020. Trade Minister Farrell said Australia was close to all trade impediments with China being removed. THAILAND REACHES EUROPEAN TRADE AGREEMENT: Thailand and the European Free Trade Association (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland) have concluded negotiations for a free trade agreement. It includes goods,…
By PBEC Executive Director – December 2024 DECEMBER 2024: A PBEC update on APEC 2025 agenda hosted by South Korea: Korea launched its chairmanship of APEC 2025, the first time in two decades that the nation is hosting the global forum, on Monday 11th December 2024 with the APEC Informal Senior Officials’ Meeting (ISOM) Symposium held in Seoul against a backdrop of political uncertainty over the past week. The symposium, hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, set the stage…
Climate change is intensifying, but so is the push to decarbonize. While many businesses have made progress tracking Scope 1 and 2 emissions, the focus is now shifting to #Scope3 — indirect emissions from supply chains. Explore KPMG’s report with PBEC – Pacific Basin Economic Council, Unlocking the Scope 3 Opportunity – Insights from Asia Pacific Businesses and watch our recent webinar discussion on the topic with regional leaders and subject matter experts, to get a view of how some organizations are…
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) of the Republic of Korea announced plans today with regard to launching the Korea-ASEAN Trade and Economic Think Tank Dialogue (“Dialogue”), proposed by Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol during the 25th Korea-ASEAN Summit held on October 10 in Vientiane, Lao PDR. The Dialogue was first proposed as a concrete joint project on the occasion of the bilateral Korea-ASEAN diplomatic relations advancing to a comprehensive strategic partnership in commemoration of this year marking…
AUSTRALIA PURSUES MAJOR TOURIST BOOST: Australia hosted more than 300 global travel experts in Perth this week as part of its G’Day Australia promotional initiative. Tourism Minister Farrell said G’Day Australia played a critical role in ensuring Australia remained a top choice with international travellers. ASEAN & CHINA CONCLUDE TRADE NEGOTIATIONS: ASEAN and China have substantially concluded negotiations for the ASEAN-China Free Trade Area Upgrade 3.0. It was first signed in 2002 and represented ASEAN’s first external FTA and China’s…
Several senior PBEC members & board of directors attended fellow Corporate Member ICAEW Annual Gala Dinner at the Grand Hyatt in Hong Kong on the 24th October. Over 260 senior executives, founders, CFO & CEO’s were in attendance co-hosted by Sir David Li Executive Chairman at Bank of East Asia & Alan Vallance the new CEO of ICAEW founded in 1880. Our own PBEC Chairman Andrew Weir MBE, BBS, JP who is a council member of ICAEW spoke at the…