Belt & Road Forum
Oct 07 2018

Belt & Road Forum | September 19, 2018

Carter Center, Atlanta, Georgia

Hong Kong Association of Atlantaand the Confucius Institute of Georgia State University jointly hosted a very successful Forum on BRI and opportunities for USA companies leveraging the HK Super Connector role.

Over 160 attendees from business and local Asian communities participated in an interactive discussion on Belt and Road Initiative. Joining the hosts were The Carter Center, Georgia Department of Economic Development, Metro Atlanta Chamber, World Affairs Council of Atlanta, and World Trade Center Atlanta. Community supporters include Association of Chinese Professionals, Atlanta International Night market, Chinese Business Association of Atlanta, Georgia China Alliance, Georgia Indo-American Chamber of Commerce, and Pakistani American Community of Atlanta.

Sponsors included Aprio LLP, The Carter Center, China Research Center, The Coca-Cola Company, Confucius Institute of Georgia State University, Deloitte Tax LLP, Dexterials America Corporation, Farmer’s Basket, HSBC Bank, JPMC Bank, Lenovo Group, and Metro Atlanta Chamber. Among the audience, we have about 20 small to medium-sized local companies interested in business and exports to Asia. Some are in medical, logistics, sourcing, supply chain, construction, LED, tourism, machine tools, consumer goods, etc. Based on feedbacks from most of the attendees, they like about the educational aspect, China’s role in BRI, as well as identifying areas of opportunities and industries alongside BRI. In addition, speakers also provided concern of project viability, risk associated with projects, risk mitigation, using HK as a Facilitator, and political and economic implications. Some of the projects discussed included Adani Group of India, CPEC $62B projects, Malaysian/Singapore high speed rail, Itochu Group, CP Group of Thailand, and Lippo Group of Indonesia, and GE projects in BRI countries.

Panel Discussion-Moderated by Dr. Penny Prime of GSU

Speakers: Dr. Yawei Liu, China Program Director, Carter Center

Louis Chan, Assistant Principal Economist, HKTDC

Henry Yu, Hong Kong Association of Atlanta

John Rice, Retired Vice Chairman, The General Electric Company

Luncheon Speakers: Jorge Fernandez, VP of Metro Atlanta Chamber

Dr. Jagdish Sheth, Marketing Professor, Emory University

This is the third BRI Forum that HKAA has been involved as organizer and host. We are indeed fortunate to have support of the local Asian community, our partners, corporate sponsors and of course our HKAA Board members. HKAA Board members in attendance were Gene Hanratty, Li Wong, David Wong, Floria Whitcomb, Norman Cheng, Shandry Law, Charlene Fang and Henry Yu.

Article contributed by Henry Yu, HKAA

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