D(SG)’sPresentationtothe15thSeniorManagementProgramme,.pdfVIP

Presentation of Ms Subrina Chow, Director of HK Economic Trade Office, Singapore at the Business Round Table of the Young Businesspeople Association of Ho Chi Minh City at the Press Club on 9 October 2008 “Riding out the Storm – Hong Kong’s Experience” Introduction Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, • Thank you for this opportunity to share with you our experience in riding out several major storms that hit Hong Kong over the last decade. • Before I begin, let me first introduce myself and my colleagues. We are the representatives of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, and while we are based in Singapore, our mission is to strengthen Hong Kong’s economic ties with the entire ASEAN region, which is currently Hong Kongs 3rd largest trading partner after the Mainland of China and the European Union. • When Mr. Phuc Tien first invited me to speak at this round table back in early August and suggested that I should talk about how Hong Kong weathered the Asian financial crisis, a fierce storm was already waging in the financial markets in the West. What I did not realize at that time was how quickly and how seriously this storm is going to affect Asian economies. • Just two months later, the Financial Tsunami has already swept across the Pacific and arrived at our coast. And the toll on the economies in our part of the world is likely to be heavy. • While the economic outlook for the foreseeable future is not the most encouraging, this could be the best time to look back and reflect on what we have learned from tackling past challenges. Storms over the Past Decade • To begin,