Horasis Asia Meeting – 2020

Horasis convened the 2020 Horasis Asia Meeting as a virtual meeting using its new ground-breaking digital conferencing platform. 400 of the foremost business and political leaders from Asia and the world gathered to discuss the profound economic, political and social disruptions caused by COVID-19 and other forces. Delegates interacted with key political and business leaders to jointly develop solutions for dealing with the current crisis and to shape a durable economic system for Asia’s post-COVID future. Download the report and the programme.

Ramon Lopez, Secretary of Trade and Industry, The Philippines noted how COVID had disrupted social lives, and trade disruption was an issue. But the Philippines is to redevelop economic priorities towards the healthcare sector pivoting operations to products and services urgently needed during and beyond the health crisis. Meutya Viada Hafid, Chairman of Commission, House of Representatives, Indonesia also remarked how Indonesia had played a strong role pre-COVID in pharma and medical tourism yet was, like many nations, caught out by the rapidity and severity of the pandemic and its effect on the economy. She expected IT to underpin future growth and well-being.

Ramon Lopez, Secretary of Trade and Industry, The Philippines	Meutya Viada Hafid, Chairman of Commission I, House of Representatives, Indonesia

Fabrizio Hochschild, Under-Secretary General, Special Adviser on Preparations for 75th United Nations Anniversary, United Nations, USA explained how the UN developed the concept of UN75 to celebrate its 75 years. It recorded over a million responses to dialogues that evolved a theme “The future we want – it’s the UN we need”. Ideas that were echoed by Nguyen Minh Vu, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, Vietnam who noted many Asian nations are very diverse – and believes this is a strength. Its pluralism will lead to coherence and a competitive advantage through increasing dialogue, ensuring that cultural diversity supports a wide range of heritage and can raise quality of life. Hank McKinnell, Chairman, Moody’s, USA suggested when USA re-enters Asia mutual understanding will be needed. Cherie Nursalim, Vice Chair, GITI Group, Indonesia talking on women empowerment, says this is within the SDGs and will support new finance models, digitization that aids urban/rural integration, and new educational modes will and must engage the young. Gregorio Honasan, Secretary of Information and Communications Technology, The Philippines noted that across the economies of the Philippines and the Pacific region IT infrastructure is seen as a key to growth, permitting urban and rural activities to be linked to enable seamless development.

Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Road Transport & Highways, India

Christopher Hui, Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Hong Kong SAR suggested that Hong Kong may become the world’s newest financial centre. It has seen huge benefit from globalisation and has continuing accords in place. Sansern Samalapa, Vice Minister of Commerce, Thailand noted that Asia’s emerging manufacturing hub in Thailand was mediated by greater use of IT that promoted food security. Thailand’s strengths will encourage more investment and trade with better business practices. Indeed, IT development in India is also promoting a cashless nation, though much work is to be done emphasised Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Road Transport & Highways, Shipping and of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, India. ‘India will become the manufacturing centre of world as it improves quality and reduces costs to increase exports,’ he said.

Christopher Hui, Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Hong Kong	Zhi Peng, President, Tsinghua Asset Management Group, China

Delegates discussed how to travel the path through Asia’s big transitions and how to adopt innovation to build a resilient Asia. A few days before this meeting, the ASEAN nations met and agreed a new accord – the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). However, Binod K. Chaudhary, Chairman, Chaudhary Group, Nepal worried that the region has also 30% of the world’s poorest, surviving on less than $1/day. Vinod Sekhar, Chairman and Group Chief Executive Officer, Petra Group, Malaysia accepts Asia (and RCEP) varies politically from non-democratic to democratic; with Malaysia being centrally located, and multi-faceted across its own political and social spectrum. It is helpful, suggests Vijay Eswaran, Executive Chairman, QI Group, Hong Kong that Southeast Asia plays a political middle role. Zhi Peng, President, Tsinghua Asset Management Group, China, thought China was emerging stronger from COVID crisis. She emphasised China’s 14th 5-year plan which replaces high-speed growth with high-quality growth. Paul Scanlan, Chief Transformation Officer, Huawei, China needs educationalists and politicians to talk facts, and importantly develop trust.

Kenji Kitahashi, Mayor of Kitakyushu, Japan highlighted Kitakyushu’s initiatives – the city was recognized by the OECD as a Green Growth City; as well as an Eco-Model City, Future City, and SDGs Future City by the Japanese government – it is pressing ahead with the first of its kind on city-level SDGs in the world. He welcomed Horasis to the city for its next Horasis Asia Meeting in 2021.

The co-chairs were:

	Binod K. Chaudhary, Chairman, Chaudhary Group, Nepal
	Vijay Eswaran, Chairman, QI Ltd, Hong Kong
	Ben Goertzel, Chief Executive Officer, SingularityNET, Hong Kong SAR
	Tatsuo Hatta, President, Asian Growth Research Institute, Japan
	Harry Hui, Founder and Managing Partner, ClearVue Partners, China
	Roger King, Founder and Chairman, ODS Holdings Inc., Hong Kong
	George Li, Founder and Managing Partner, Bridge Biohub, China
	Hank McKinnell, Chairman, Moody’s, USA
	David Pan, Executive Dean, Schwarzman College, Tsinghua University, China
	Rajiv Podar, Managing Director, Podar Enterprise, India
	Harsh Pati Singhania, Vice Chairman, JK Paper; President, President AIMA, India
	Cherie Nursalim, Vice Chair, GITI Group, Indonesia
	Paul Scanlan, Chief Transformation Officer, Huawei, China
	Robert Scharfe, Chief Executive Officer, Luxembourg Stock Exchange, Luxembourg
	Vinod Sekhar, Chairman and Group Chief Executive Officer, Petra Group, Malaysia
	Gunjan Sinha, Chairman, MetricStream, USA
	Joji Tagawa, Chief Sustainability Officer, Nissan Motor, Japan
	Tan Yinglan, Founding Managing Partner, Insignia Ventures Partners, Singapore
	Zhi Peng, President, Tsinghua Asset Management Group, China

Horasis – a global visions community committed to inspiring our future – provides a unique platform for companies from emerging and developed markets to globalize their organisations. In addition to the Horasis Asia Meeting, Horasis hosts the annual Horasis Global Meeting, Horasis China Meeting, Horasis India Meeting, as well as the annual gatherings of the Horasis Visionary Circle.