Found at: http://www.competitiveness.org/article/articleprint/723/-1/67/

Threats or Opportunities? Asia challenges in focus on Competitiveness Conference

Hong Kong conference

The Competitiveness Institute's eighth Annual Global Conference ended its three-day run at the Kowloon Shangri-La Hotel in Hong Kong with more than 170 experts from 43 countries. The conference "Enter the Dragon: China's Emergence and International Competitiveness" was organized by the Hong Kong Institute of Economics and Business Strategy.

"It's an honor to be hosting The Competitiveness Institute's eighth Annual Global Conference. China's emergence on to the world stage has created unprecedented opportunities and challenges to business people and policy makers from all over the world," Michael Enright, Sun Hung Kai Professor of Business Administration at the Hong Kong Institute of Economics and Business Strategy, said at his opening speech.

This year the participants took the opportunity to listen to regional development plans, innovation systems projects and cluster initiatives. They also shared best practices and discussed the competitiveness of China, especially Hong Kong and the Pearl River Delta region.

"Hong Kong plays a crucial role for foreign companies going into China and Chinese companies coming out of China. China is not only as a production platform, but has become a market, an investment location, as well as a competitor," Michael Enright said.

The conference was also honored by Pakistan Minister of State for Finance, Omar Ayub Khan. In his keynote address the Minister declared that the government of Pakistan has established a national Innovation and Competitiveness Council.

"I want to thank our partners for organizing this very successful event. It has been a great opportunity to learn more about China?s true underlying competitiveness and how our own national or regional clusters can stack up against one of the world?s best. Many of the false expectations and fears we had before entering this conferences, turned out realizing the great opportunities China can offer," said Lars Eklund, newly appointed President of The Competitiveness Institute.

Documentation from the Hong Kong conference is available at http://www.competitiveness.org.

The Hong Kong Institute of Economies and Business Strategy (HIEBS) is a research center at The University of Hong Kong devoted to furthering the understanding of critical issues facing the economies and businesses of Asia. It is an Area of Excellence designated and funded in part by the University Grants Committee of Hong Kong. See http://www.hiebs.hku.hk.