GGI had the pleasure of organising the 2014 Asia-Pacific Regional Conference (APRC) in the wonderful and vibrant city of Bangkok, Thailand. The event was hosted by the local GGI member firm Dherakupt International Law Office Ltd. The turnout of participants was a grand success as the conference welcomed over 100 delegates and participants from 25 countries across the Asia-Pacific region, as well as other areas such as the Middle East, Europe, North America and Australasia.
In line with tradition, the conference started on Thursday morning, with an enjoyable round of golf. Participants played a round of 18 holes at one of Bangkok’s most impressive and renowned country clubs, The Green Valley.
The International Taxation Practice Group meeting was next on the agenda, led by regional Chairperson Ashish Bairagra. Numerous interesting topics were discussed with regard to taxation issues in the Asia-Pacific region and member firms were invited to present various taxation procedures of their respective countries.
The first day concluded with a welcome reception that took place at the Shangri-la riverside terrace by the Chaow Praya River. A delicious buffet was served, with members and candidates encouraged to continue socialising with each other in a very relaxed and casual ambiance.
On Friday, 12 December 2014, GGI was delighted to welcome Viktor Vavricka, Deputy Head of Mission to the Swiss Embassy in Bangkok, in officially opening the 6th Asia-Pacific Regional Conference. Viktor Vavricka delivered an interesting speech on the economic situation in Asia, offering specific insights into the current political situation relating to military control of Thailand as well as trade relations between the Kingdom of Thailand and Switzerland. Due to insecurities involving Thailand with regards to the recent coup d’état, Viktor Vavricka provided reassuring indications that Thailand’s business orientation has remained as determined as always.
Moving on to the inauguration speech, Claudio G. Cocca, GGI Founder and Chairman of the Board of Directors, gave his presidential speech, welcoming all participants and wishing them a successful and dynamic conference in a region that is experiencing substantial growth. Following Claudio Cocca, GGI welcomed the host firm, Dherakupt International Law Office, which was represented by Dr Anuphan Kitnitchiva and Monchai Vachirayonstien who expressed their gratitude and enthusiasm in hosting this conference and the quality of the GGI Global Alliance. Monchai Vachirayconstien was at pains to underline that the political situation in Thailand has not hampered business opportunities over the past few months and wished all delegates a wonderful conference and stay in Bangkok. Peter Kaeser, CEO of Asia-Pacific/Middle East and Africa later took a moment to introduce the recent development of the region by welcoming each new GGI member firm from the past year.
Following the introduction of the new member firms, Peter Kaeser, introduced the next guest conference speaker. Jürg Kiener discussed “How the global macroeconomic environment is driving the Asian integration model”. Mr Kiener, has more than 30 years of experience in the financial and banking industry, gaining considerable practice in representing leading Swiss banks, Credit Suisse and Union Bancaire Privée, worldwide. Jürg Kiener delivered an interesting speech about the global and current situation with regards to the growth of debt in today’s financial economies and realistic outlooks on the future. The morning session came to a close with a picture of all the delegates in attendance at the conference and was followed by keynote speaker Hon. Dr Supachai Panitchpakdi, who has taken an acting role as Deputy Finance Minister, Commerce Minister and twice Deputy Prime Minister. Dr Panitchpakdi has served two terms as Secretary General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and was recently appointed by the UN Secretary General to serve on the high level panel of experts on budget recasting. Dr Panitchpakdi gave a speech on: “Rise of Asia: challenges and opportunities”. The 21st century has rightfully been depicted as the century of Asia-Pacific. More than half of global growth can now be attributed to Asian economies. Asia’s extraordinary economic resilience is all the more evident after the 2008 global financial crisis as it emerged as a truly important engine of global growth. The rise of Asia has been sustained by the competitive strengths of the three Asian pillars: China, India and ASEAN. While the “new normal” global growth would struggle to achieve 3%, the average growth of developing Asia easily reaches double that rate. This successful Asian growth model will nevertheless have to evolve into a more mature production structure. The already huge manufacturing sector must be better balanced by a productivity-enhancing services sector. The switch from cheap labour intensive, export-oriented assembly lines to more technology-based and knowledge-driven ones, similar to the Japanese and South Korean models, is already spreading across the continent as a whole. Growth is becoming more inclusive and sustainable, firmly founded on the pillars of economic, social and environmental elements. This comprehensive economic transformation can cut across decades as further measures for economic integration are being undertaken in this vibrant continent.
Prior to welcoming the mid-afternoon practice group sessions, Peter Kaeser provided a global outlook of recent developments by presenting the Asia-Pacific Management Report. Various topics were discussed, such as new member firms, potential future members and potential strategies in developing the region further.
As the mid-afternoon session started, participants attended various practice groups, including the Auditing, Reporting & Compliance Practice Group, hosted by Ricky Wong. The topic of this practice group was to discuss the international standard of quality control requirements for audits and reviews of financial statements, as well as looking at the code of ethics, which is essential for CPA Firms. Claudio G. Cocca introduced the recently formed Global Political Economy and International Relations Practice Group, which takes a deeper outlook at understanding the international economic order. This practice group looked closely at recent event such as the Russo-Ukrainian relations, went into greater detail of the Chinese and Japanese economies which could possibly become a threat to global stability and, finally, focused on the economic situation in the eurozone. Our M&A Practice Group was facilitated by William Wong, who presented a detailed summary of M&A activities in China in this current economy, as well as providing tax rules perspectives and how these rules could potentially affect the decision-making process for acquirers. Finally, Ashish Bairagra hosted a practice group on Immigration and Expatriates Services, whereby delegates were welcomed to share and discuss country updates with regards to this topic.
With business for the day brought to a successful close, all GGI members and participants were invited to the Peninsula Hotel on the banks of the river ChaoPhraya to enjoy a wonderful dinner. There was a very relaxed atmosphere, with everyone engaged in lively conversation during and after the dinner.
On Saturday morning, the conference resumed as scheduled, with interesting workshops led by various GGI members.
GGI North America member Randall Leff, and Paul Simmons from the UK contributed by offering a workshop on “Effective dispute resolutions in the United States”. This session offered participants the opportunity to discuss effective ways of resolving legal disputes from the perspective of a US attorney and a non-US accountant.
Sameer Kamboj led a workshop on “Productivity – a transactional view”, helping participants to understand the nature of productivity and its relevance in the modern leadership context.
After lunch, participants enjoyed an impressive canal (klong) tour along Bangkok’s legendary Chao Phraya River and in the Thonburi area.
Peter Kaeser made some closing remarks on the successful APRC’14 and welcomed all delegates for next year’s APRC’15 taking place in Hong Kong, being hosted by GGI member firms Robertson and Wong Bros.
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