World services leaders met to drive the global economy

Five hundred delegates attended the Second World Services Congress on 20-21 September, 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”. A truly global audience attended the Congress – delegates came from forty countries and jurisdictions.

The tragic event in New York and Washington on 11 September, 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.”

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 to the Congress was USCSI Chairman Dean O’Hare, also Chairman of Chubb Corporation. He was, nonetheless, represented by his Senior Vice President Mr Brant Free. The Chubb Corporation’s support of the WSC in those difficult times was well appreciated by Congress participants.

The Congress itself was marked by keynote speeches by reputed personalities, such as HKSAR Financial Secretary Mr Antony Leung and Mitsubishi Group Chairman Mr Minoru Makihara, who both gave a boost to globalisation in their speeches.

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 Tenth Five Year Plan during the Congress Lunch; and Vice Chairman (Vice Minister) Mr An Chengxin of the China Council for Promotion of International Trade who gave a speech about the China market. Besides, three Director-General level officials also attended the Congress. They were Mr Huang Hai of the State Economic and Trade Commission, Madam Song Ling of the Ministry of Information Industry, and Mr Yang Weimin of State Development Planning Commission.

On the Hong Kong side, keynote speeches were delivered by David Eldon, Chairman of Hongkong and Shanghai Bank; Gordon Wu, Chairman of Hopewell Holdings; and David Cunningham, President of Federal Express, all of them focusing on opportunities in the China market.

One of the highlights of the Congress was the Dinner at Grand Hyatt Hotel. During the Dinner WTO Director General Mr 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”. Delegates evidently enjoyed the evening.

While globalisation was the unifying theme, the Congress broke out into ten different groups to discuss a wide range of different 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. 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 making.

In addition, four major service industry organisations – US 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 US and EU 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.

For more details, please visit the WSC website at http://www.chamber.org.hk/wsc