Driving commercial and political engagement between Asia, the Middle East and Europe
Driving commercial and political engagement between Asia, the Middle East and Europe
Driving commercial and political engagement between Asia, the Middle East and Europe
Tran Quoc Khanh, Vice Minister of Industry and Trade, Vietnam, will give a keynote speech as Asia House convenes global thought leaders to explore the impact of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) on Asia’s digital trade environment.
Digital trade has been a key driver of Asia’s economic recovery from the pandemic and could be boosted further by RCEP – the world’s largest free trade agreement, which came into force in January.
Bringing together 15 signatories across Asia-Pacific, RCEP includes enhanced provisions in areas such as cross-border data flows, online consumer protection, and several aspects of digital trade. It has the potential to consolidate and deepen the digital trade environment for businesses and SMEs throughout Asia.
This digital Asia House conference, organised in partnership with the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB), will take a particular focus on chapter 12 of RCEP, which contains provisions relating specifically to digital trade and e-commerce. Panellists will discuss whether the rules included in this chapter could revolutionise Asia’s digital economy by creating regulatory framework to support e-commerce, cross border transactions and data flows.
The discussion will provide valuable insights from figures at the heart of Asia’s digital trade landscape on whether RCEP can bolster and stimulate the region’s digital economy, and the opportunities arising through this landmark agreement.
The event will launch CKGSB’s new report: ‘RCEP: Can Multilateralism Lead to Economic Growth in Asia Pacific?’
REGISTER INTEREST
Please note that, by registering for this event, you agree for your registration details to be shared with Asia House and Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB).
SPEAKERS
KEYNOTE SPEECH
Tran Quoc Khanh, Vice Minister of Industry and Trade, Vietnam
Tran Quoc Khanh is Vice Minister of Industry and Trade, Vietnam, where he is Head of the Government negotiating team on international economy and trade. He has responsibility for Vietnam’s bilateral trade relations and market development, and issues related to handling trade disputes. The Deputy Minister is in charge of relations between Vietnam and partners within the framework of ASEAN, APEC, ASEM, and the WTO, as well as other regional and international economic organisations and forums.
Allan Gepty, Assistant Secretary for Industry Development and Trade Policy, The Philippines
Allan B Gepty is the Assistant Secretary for Industry Development and Trade Policy at the Philippines’ Department of Trade and Industry. His main portfolio is international trade policy and trade negotiations at the bilateral, regional, and multilateral levels. Assistant Secretary Gepty was the Philippines’ lead negotiator in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Agreement, considered the largest free trade deal in the world. He is also the country’s Senior Economic Official at the ASEAN. He was a former Deputy Director-General of the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines and Commissioner of the Philippine Tariff Commission. Assistant Secretary Gepty is a lawyer by profession with diverse experience in international trade, intellectual property, public international law, commercial law, and litigation. He is a member of the Supreme Court of the Philippines’ Sub-Committee for the Revision of the Rules of Procedure for Intellectual Property Rights Cases.
Satvinder Singh, Deputy Secretary-General for ASEAN Economic Community
Satvinder Singh is the Deputy Secretary-General for ASEAN Economic Community for 2021-2024. In his capacity as the Deputy Secretary-General, Satvinder provides strategic advice to the Secretary-General of ASEAN for advancing ASEAN’s economic integration agenda, as well as leading the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) Department of the ASEAN Secretariat in implementing the AEC Blueprint 2025. Before assuming this role, he was the Assistant Chief Executive Officer, Trade Connectivity & Business Services, at Enterprise Singapore. With over 27 years of experience in holding a variety of local, regional and global management positions across the region, Deputy Secretary-General Singh was instrumental in strengthening Singapore’s role as Asia’s trading hub as well as driving digitalisation efforts in Singapore during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dr Xiang Bing, Founding Dean and Professor of China Business and Globalization, CKGSB
Dr Xiang Bing is the Founding Dean and Professor of China Business and Globalization at Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB). CKGSB is China’s first faculty-governed, independent and private business school with headquarters in Beijing, campuses in Shanghai and Shenzhen and representative offices in Hong Kong, London and New York. Dr Xiang has served as an independent board member of a number of companies (including three Fortune Global 500 companies) listed in Hong Kong, Mainland China and the United States. He is a member of the International Advisory Council of Fundação Dom Cabral (FDC), a member of the Global Advisory Board of Yonsei School of Business in Korea, a member of the Advisory Board of Asia House in London and a Counselor for One Young World Summit in Dublin. He has also served as a member of the Board of Trustees for United Way Worldwide (US) from 2011-2017. Dr Xiang is a leading authority on China business. His research interests include the reform of state-owned enterprises, innovation and the role of the private sector and economic disruption in China. His insights on the innovations in China, globalisation of Chinese companies, China’s development models, global implications of China’s transformation, social innovation, economic disruption, China-US relations, global trade and investment systems and global governance have been widely acclaimed.
Professor Li Haitao, Dean’s Distinguished Chair Professor of Finance, CKGSB
Dr Li Haitao is the Dean’s Distinguished Chair Professor of Finance, Associate Dean for Business Scholars Program and Associate Dean for Alumni Affairs and the Development Foundation at CKGSB. Previously, he was the Jack D Sparks Whirlpool Corporation Research Professor in the Finance Department of the Stephen M Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. He also served on the faculty of the Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University. Dr Li serves on the editorial boards of Management Science (the Department of Finance) and the International Review of Finance. Dr Li holds a PhD in Finance from Yale University.
Hanim Hamzah, Regional Managing Partner, ZICO Law
Hanim Hamzah is the Regional Managing Partner of ZICO Law, the first law firm network with presence across ASEAN with 18 offices in all 10 countries. She also heads the Corporate M&A practice group at ZICO Law Indonesia’s Roosdiono & Partners law firm. Based in Singapore, her 25+ years of regional practice experience includes being resident in Malaysia, Japan, and Indonesia where she specialises in major infrastructure project financing and M&A deals in aviation, banking, insurance, mining, oil and gas, plantations, and property. Hanim is top ranked, consistently recognised as Distinguished Lawyer or Leading Lawyer across multiple practice areas in major legal directories and publications. She has authored cited articles in thought leadership in the legal profession and is currently Co-Chair of the International Bar Association’s Law Firm Management Committee, and Senior Fellow at the CIMB Asean Research Institute (CARI). Hanim was selected by the Singapore Academy of Law, as part of an expert think-tank to prepare a white paper on skills needed by legal professionals in the future. In 2019, Hanim co-founded the ASEAN Legal Tech Initiative, bringing together legal and technology experts in South-East Asia.
David Hardoon, Chief Data and AI Officer, Union Bank of the Philippines
David Hardoon is a world-leading data scientist, and joined Union Bank in 2020 to advance its digital capabilities. Alongside his current role, David also serves as Chief Data Officer at UnionDigital, Chief Data and Innovation Officer at Aboitiz Group, and Managing Director at Aboitiz Data Innovation. He is an external advisor to Singapore’s Corrupt Investigation Practices Bureau (CPIB) in the capacity of Senior Advisor (Artificial Intelligence) and to Singapore’s Central Provident Fund Board (CPF) in the capacity of Senior Advisor (Data Science). Prior to his current roles, David was at Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), first appointed as Chief Data Officer and Head of Data Analytics Group reporting to the agency Deputy Managing Director for Financial Supervision, and subsequently Special Advisor (Artificial Intelligence) reporting to Deputy Managing Director for Markets and Development. In these roles he led the development of the AI strategy both for MAS and Singapore’s financial sector as well as driving efforts in promoting open cross-border data flows.
Raymond Yee Woon Ming, Vice President, Customs and Regulatory Affairs, Asia Pacific, DHL Express
Raymond is the Vice President for Customs and Regulatory Affairs for DHL Express covering Asia Pacific excluding China. His role includes working with governments, particularly Customs and Trade agencies on various reform and modernisation programmes and enhancing partnerships between DHL Express and Customs administrations from across the region. He has over 25 years of experience dealing with Customs and Trade issues covering both public and private sectors, dealing with all aspects of this area. His first role involved setting up the ASEAN Free Trade Area in the ASEAN Secretariat in 1994 as well as managing customs cooperation and trade facilitation issues in ASEAN as the Secretariat’s Assistant Director for Trade Facilitation. He subsequently worked as a customs and trade consultant in various consulting companies including PricewaterhouseCoopers and Ernst & Young. Prior to joining DHL, he headed indirect tax issues for Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa for an international tobacco company. He is active in the EU-ASEAN Business Council Working Group on Trade Facilitation and member of World Customs Organisation (WCO) Private Sector Consultative Group (Asia Pacific).
Vince Iswara, CEO and Co-Founder of DANA
Vince is the CEO and Co-Founder of Indonesian digital wallet platform, DANA. He has been a tech-finance entrepreneur for almost a decade. His previous company INDOMOG, founded in 2008, was one of the first successful payment companies in the region which solved the issue of gamers paying for digital goods at over 20,000 locations across Indonesia. He was the founder of early tech-startups such as a cloud-consulting company PointStar PTE LTD in 2007; a computer graphics animation studio, Polaris 3D, in 2002; a co-working space, Polaris Tech Center, in 2001; and he has been an active investor in tech-startups. Vince was awarded as the 1st Endeavor Entrepreneur of the Year in 2014. Vince has been recognised in the technology and financial industry in building a cashless society and is acknowledged as a well-known figure in engineering community. He also has participated as a speaker in various national events.
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