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: Asian Economic Integration Report 2023 – by ADB

Trade, Investment, and Climate Change in Asia and the Pacific  – February 2023 The Asian Economic Integration Report (AEIR) reviews Asia and the Pacific’s progress on regional cooperation and integration and the states of trade, cross-border investment, financial integration, and the movement of people. According to the 2023 report, integration in the region is progressing steadily and remained stable in 2020 despite the COVID-19 pandemic. This year’s theme chapter, “Trade, Investment, and Climate Change in Asia and the Pacific,” examines…

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: Suzuran Medical Inc. (Japan) joins PBEC as Corporate Member – Feb 2023

Suzuran Medical Inc. started the manufacture and sale of cotton bedding over 180 years a go, the company has always dealt with cotton. Using this natural fiber as a base, Suzuran are pushing forward with research into cotton to help assist in humanity’s bright future. Expanding from its unique experience with such products in the medical world, they have taken the same dedication to customer benefits into their baby, hygiene, and cosmetic products. Suzuran Medical’s President is Yasuhiro Kunieda, born…

: PBEC Trade Report February 2023 – Part I

PBEC Trade Report February 2023 – Part I AUSTRALIAN TRADE MINISTER TO VISIT CHINA: Trade Minister Farrell will visit Beijing soon in a bid to improve trade relations between the two economies. It follows a virtual meeting between Minister Farrell and Commerce Minister Wang. It was the first meeting of the respective trade ministers since 2019. USTR VISITS VIETNAM & MALAYSIA: US Trade Representative Tai – the Biden Administration’s top trade official – is visiting Vietnam and Malaysia this week….

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: Webinar Invitation for Technical Updates from the SBTi – Feb 2023

On February 27th at 11am ET / 5pm CET, the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) will host a webinar to share its latest technical developments. PBEC Members are invited to register for the webinar here Luiz Amaral, SBTi CEO, and colleagues will provide technical updates that demonstrate how we are strengthening our scientific robustness. Luiz will be joined by fellow members of the SBTi’s Executive Leadership Team, including Maria Outters, our new Chief Impact Officer. Be sure to register today,…

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: PBEC Member QBE Hong Kong launches its 2023 SME Survey Results – Feb 2023

QBE Hong Kong is pleased to share with the PBEC Community, the release of its 5th iteration of our annual SME research for Hong Kong. SMEs are the backbone of the local economy. To better understand this important customer segment, QBE Hong Kong conducted the annual SME survey in October 2022 to gain valuable insights into the opportunities and challenges faced by SMEs. The study drew on an online survey of 422 Hong Kong SMEs from a wide range of…

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: SUSTAINABLE TRADE- The rising role of services in global trade – Feb 2023

Author: Patrick Low Senior Fellow – Asia Global Institute It has become fashionable to argue that globalization is in decline. The picture is more nuanced, however. While trade in manufactures as a proportion of overall economic activity appears to have peaked in some countries, the growth of trade in services as a proportion of GDP has certainly not slowed. The future of services trade in global value chains A recent series of papers by Richard Baldwin argued that globalization and…

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: PBEC’s Hinrich Foundation’s Stephen Olson reflects on Biden’s China strategy and how the spy balloon saga affects the US-China relationship – Feb 2023

Blinken outlined the Biden Administration’s much anticipated China strategy in a public speech in May last year. Blinken articulated an approach to China built on three prongs: invest, align, and compete. The “invest” pillar of the strategy calls for the US to make substantial investments in cutting-edge industries crucial to economic and strategic pre-eminence. The “align” pillar focuses on cooperating with partners that share a common vision for the Indo-Pacific. The “compete” pillar identifies economic, strategic, and philosophical ways the…

Business Survey 2023

: Business Climate Survey 2023 – by American Chamber of Commerce Taiwan – Feb 2023

Despite global economic headwinds and regional geopolitical challenges, member companies of the American Chamber of Commerce in Taiwan report measured confidence about the year ahead, according to the results of the organization’s 2023 Business Climate Survey (BCS). The poll, conducted between November 15 and December 16, 2022, found that over 70% of business leaders expressed confidence about Taiwan’s economic growth over the next 12 months. While a decrease of 16 percentage points from last year, long-term confidence remains high, expressing member companies’ confidence…

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: PBEC hosted a small gathering of its HK based board of directors at the HK Aviation Club – Feb 2023

PBEC CEO Michael Walsh and Treasurer Anson Bailey hosted a few of our HK based PBEC Directors for its first informal face to face lunch of 2023 in January prior to CNY. In attendance were directors; Lester Huang, Anson Chan, Sebastian Man, Diana Chou & David Armitage. Apologies were received from Lei Yiu, Thomas Wong and Ben Simpfendorfer. “It was lovely to catch up together, given the lifting of the covid restrictions in Hong Kong. The Aviation Club is situated…

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: PBEC CEO meets with PBEC Member VinaCapital’s team in Vietnam

Immediately after Tet New Year in Vietnam, PBEC CEO Michael Walsh took the opportunity to visit VinaCapital’s head office to present in person to the CEO Don Lam, their ESG Award 2022-23 for “Most Responsible ESG Investor” – In doing so, Michael also had the opportunity to sit down with the some of the wider senior management team to get their latest views and outlook in the investment markets including those of their Chief Economist Michael Kokalari over a hosted…