Asia Inc invited by China trade body to be partners for annual CEO forum
Goh De No
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
Monday, June 11, 2012
ASIA INC Forum has been invited by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) to be a partner for the annual China CEO Forum, the company’s chairman said.
Dato Paduka Timothy Ong, the chairman of Asia Inc Forum, told The Brunei Times in a telephone interview following the conclusion of the inaugural China CEO Forum which ended on Friday in Beijing, that it was an honour for “a small Bruneian company to be invited by the CCPIT”.
The partnership meant that Asia Inc Forum will carry out its role as organisers and co-chair of the forum.
“For us to be invited by CCPIT, to be partners, is quite an honour. And now, after the completion of the first one, they have invited us to work with them on an annual basis because they are interested in our model of conferencing,” he said.
Dato Ong described Asia Inc Forum’s conference style as “highly interactive” which discourages people from reading and minimal emphasis on VIP seating.
“We have this sort of town hall style format and over here (China), things are very formal, as that’s the Chinese style. So we haven’t gone all the way yet to our kind of format, but we are working with them towards that,” he explained.
However, Dato Ong said that the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) CEO Forum, which is held in conjunction with the APEC Summit, still remains a premier event. The China CEO Forum serves as the run-up to the APEC Summit and the APEC CEO Forum, which will be held in Russia in November.
“Although that is the highlight, the Chinese decided they should have a China CEO Forum, as from the previous meet in Honolulu, there is not enough opportunity for quality interaction,” he said.
The forum, opened in Beijing on Thursday on June 7, 2012, with over 300 business figures and government officials from China and APEC in attendance.
Hui Liangyu, the vice premier of China delivered a keynote address to open the forum, which was attended by the likes of Gary Locke, the US ambassador to China, Long Yongtu, former China chief negotiator for the WTO, Frank Ning, chairman of COFCO, and Bert Hofman, chief economist at the World Bank.
Themed “The Challenges of Development”, the forum ran from June 6 to 8.
The CCPIT, established in May 1952, is the most important and the largest institution for the promotion of foreign trade in China.
The Brunei Times