Opening remarks
Thomas von Guttberg opened the meeting and welcome delegates to Berlin. This was followed by remarks from Jacques Pelletier and he also outlined the agenda of the meeting.
Membership promotion
- Setting up new chapters in various cities
The associations in Europe were based in a city where most of the activities were organised even though there were members who were based in other cities. In order to recruit more members, both the Sweden and German associations were planning to set up new chapters under their current structure. These new chapters could be started with very loose structure, e.g. appointing a current member based in that city to be the chapter chair or coordinator.
- Inviting university students to join
University students in Europe had strong interst in China and there were potential members of the Hong Kong business associations in future. Denmark, The Netherlands, Finland and France were currently looking into the possibility of having student membership. The fees could be much lower and they had no voting rights.
- Inviting expatriates returning from Hong Kong to join
The French association had a board member specially assigned to identify who the expatriates were returning from Hong Kong by keeping close contact with the French Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong.
Relationship with other China-related associations
In Switzerland and the Netherlands, the Hong Kong associations had been working closely with the local hinese associations and joint events were organised leveraging on each others’ network. In Switzerland, the secretareiats of both the China and Hong Kong associations were of the same team.
In Denmark, the China association was more exclusive and charged a high membership fee and they tended to focus more on MNCs while the Hong Kong associations on the SMEs.
In Norway, at first they were worried about the threat of the new China association but eventually they turned to the Hong Kong assocaitiosn for help in seeking their advices of running this kind of association.
In Ireland, there was competition in drawing participants to events organised by the China association and the Hong Kong association held around the same time as the Hong Kong association refused to postpone its event.
It was advised that this issue was not a matter of mutual exclusivity. Hong Kong had been working closely with the Mainland and there were areas where Hong Kong could help supplement the China message. Hong Kong was also a stepping stone and a business platform for overseas companies to expand into the China market. We should explore ways to establish a healthy link with these Chinese associations keeping a Hong Kong angle at any cooperation plan.
Consulates General in Hong Kong
The Norwegian Government closed down the Consulate General in Hong Kong since most Norwegian companies were well established in Hong Kong and did not need much help from their Government. Finland association also indicated that there was signal that the Government might close down the office in Hong Kong and be attached to the Guangzhou office. The Hong Kong Economic & Trade Office (ETO) was aware of the issues and would keep lobbying with the respective Governments and explain the Hong Kong advantages.
TDC would focus in bringing the multipliers to Hong Kong to convince them that Hong Kong was a useful platform for their SMEs. The names of the VIPs or companies visited Hong Kong and received by TDC could be provided to the associations for follow-up – either as a speaker or a member.
In Belgium, the Hong Kong association enjoyed good cooperation with China related associations and the Chinese embassies in Brussels. The current Belgian Consul General in Hong Kong used to be based in Shanghai and he was then not very positive about Hong Kong. He had now completely changed his attitude after posted in Hong Kong and was bringing a big mission to Hong Kong in June.
In Sweden, the Government did treasure the relationship the Hong Kong association had built up with Hong Kong and their achievements were well acknowledged by the Government.
Websites
A website was launched in Italy in cooperation with the Hong Kong Tourism Board. It was possible to keep the cost low by working with a partner such as the HKTB.
In Germany there had been a website for many years offering general information as well as links to important sites. It was combined with a business brief for all members. The website was maintained by a TDC staff. It was noted that sharing of the information was not quite possible as the brief was mainly for the consumption of German companies.
Members were reminded that there were many useful links at the Federation website providing timely information about Hong Kong which was already made available at TDC trade portal to all members.
It was proposed to set up a taskforce on websites and in one year’s time the taskforce could make a report at the next Europe Forum.
It was also advised that a telephone conference call with the secretariats could be arranged to update them on the Federation work and to understand more about their needs.
Events
All agreed that activities organised by the Hong Kong business associations should not limit only to business related activities and other social and cultural events should also be organised showing Hong Kong as the cultural gateway to China.
Members were briefed about TDC’s role in the 10th anniversary celebration programme. The HKSAR Government would take the lead in organising events for the celebration, TDC would not separately organise any events purely for the purpose of celebration. However, the HKSARG was well informed of the TDC activities and they would choose any relevant events to be branded as the 10th anniversary events.
New Hong Kong Associations in Europe
It was a priority for the Federation to set up new business associations in Central Europe and Spain. Hungary was a very possible location. Members were also noted that finding a Chair and board members was not an easy task.
One possibility was to engage the heads of some Hong Kong companies which had a presence in these target markets. Another option was to look for the returned expatriates to be involved in these new associations.
Regarding the terms of the Chairmanship it should depend on the local situation and the associations could best decide if they preferred an active business leader or a retired businessman with local influence to lead the association.
Hong Kong Forum
The following suggestions were made in enriching the Hong Kong Forum programme and the secretariat would further explore the possibility of incorporating these suggestions in this year’s Hong Kong Forum programme:
- with stronger focus on environmental protection
- more meetings with experienced businessmen
- not only to look at what Hong Kong could bring to the world, but also what the world could bring to Hong Kong
- understand more about the Hong Kong tourism plan
- more visits to Hong Kong companies joined by smaller groups, i.e. 3 to 4 participants only
The next Europe Forum
The Netherlands Hong Kong Society invited the Federation to organise the 2008 Europe Forum on 17-18 May in Amsterdam. The meeting would coincide with the celebration of the 30th anniversary of the Netherlands Hong Kong Society.
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