In the News

ABAC meeting to kick off in Taipei May 17

• Publication Date：05/12/2010
• Source： Taiwan Today
• By  Meg Chang

The Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Business Advisory Council, commonly referred to as ABAC, will hold its second meeting of the year from May 17 to 21 at Taipei’s Grand Hyatt Hotel, according to the event’s organizer Chinese Taipei APEC Study Center.

As an introduction to the gathering, CTASC held a news conference May 11 together with the three delegates who will represent Taiwan at the meeting, Tsai Hong-tu, chairman of Cathay Financial Holding Co. Ltd., Matthew Miao, chairman of the MiTAC-SYNNEX Group and Cher Wang, co-founder and chairwoman of HTC Corp.

This will be the third time that Taiwan has hosted the international gathering, with the previous two being in 1998 and 2004, CTASC Director-General David Hong pointed out. More than 170 top-level delegates and participants from 21 member states of the APEC will convene on the island, he added.

Guests of honor include ABAC Chairman Gempachiro Aihara, counselor of Mitsui & Co. Ltd. from Japan, Lindsay Fox, founder of Linfox Group from Australia, Bon-Joon Koo, chief executive officer of LG International from South Korea and Wang Lili, executive chairperson of Industrial & the Commercial Bank of China.

With “Working towards Sustainable Growth for All” being the theme of this year’s gathering, ABAC has established five working groups to address various issues to enhance economic structure for balanced growth, advance regional economic integration and increase economic growth in harmony with the environment.

As leader of the Taiwan delegation, Tsai will discuss issues and challenges faced by small and medium-sized enterprises amid the current global economic landscape. “I will share with other members Taiwan’s successful experience in helping the country’s SMEs weather economic crisis.”

In his capacity as co-chair of ABAC’s Facilitating Working Group, Miao will promote regional economic integration and free trade among APEC member economies. “The year 2010 marks the first milestone in APEC’s efforts towards its goal, and there are a lot of issues that need to be covered during this year’s meeting.”

Wang, who initiated Knowledge-Based Growth as part of the APEC’s growth strategy for the year, will propose ways to drive regional economic growth with information communication technology at the ABAC KBG Symposium. “By doing so, we hope to create more business opportunities for Taiwan.”

The council was created in November 1995 to provide advice to APEC leaders on business-related issues. Consisting of three members of the private sector from each economy, ABAC represents a diverse range of business sectors.

The group’s first meeting for the year took place in Melbourne Feb. 9 to 12. Besides the upcoming Taipei conference, two other conferences are scheduled for 2010, with one in Bangkok Aug. 24-27, and the other in Yokohama, Japan Nov. 8-10. (HZW)

Write to Meg Chang at meg.chang@mail.gio.gov.tw