CSHK PASS WORKSHOP SERIES

Mr. Lester Huang is the Chairman of the Council of the City University of Hong Kong. He is a practising solicitor and has served in P.C. Woo & Co. for over 35 years. He is the current Co-Chairman of the firm. Mr. Huang holds a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Hong Kong, and a Master of Education from the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Mr. Huang is active in community service and takes an interest in Youth and Education. He is the Chairman of the Standing Committee on Language Education and Research and sits on the Education Commission. He is the Immediate Past President of The Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups and also chairs the Social Welfare Advisory Committee. Mr. Huang is a member of the Public Service Commission. He is an external director of the Securities and Futures Commission and a Steward of the Hong Kong Jockey Club. He is also a Manager of several Hong Kong aided schools.

Dr Bernard Chan Pak-li was Political Assistant to the Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development from March 2013 to June 2017.
Before joining the Government, Dr Chan spent about 10 years working in the technology sector, gaining experience in intellectual property trading and crossover collaboration. From 2008 to 2013, Dr Chan served as a member of the Kwun Tong District Council.

Dr Chan holds a bachelor degree in electrical engineering and a PhD degree in biomedical engineering from Duke University, USA.

Mr. Anthony Lam, an expert in ASEAN business ((investments include Circle-K convenience stores in Vietnam, procurement network in Thailand, and property development in Malaysia), is the Vice-Chairman and CEO of Golden Resources Development International Ltd. (SEHK0677) , which is listed in the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

The Golden Resources Group engages in businesses from trading and processing rice to retail business investments, logistics & supply chain services, and plastic & environmental products production. Headquartered in Hong Kong, the Group’s business had extended to Greater China and South East Asia including Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia.

Mr. Lam has extensive experiences in the business sector, where he is a Member of the Advisory Committee on Agriculture and Fisheries (ACAF) under the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD), the Chairman of the Crop Farming Sub-Committee under AFCD, Executive Committee Member of the Customer Liaison Group for Rice under the Trade & Industry Department (TID) in Hong Kong, and the Vetting Committee Member of the Reindustrialization Funding Scheme (RFS) under Innovation & Technology Commission (ITS). Mr. Lam is also the Deputy Chairman of the Federation of Hong Kong Industries (FHKI), and the Chairman of the Food, Beverages & Tobacco Group of FHKI. Mr. Lam had also been awarded the Ap Bac Medal from the Vietnam Government in recognition to his contributions to the Vietnamese rice industry, and is also a regular speaker in the universities and in major international conferences.

China Merchants Group (CMG) is a conglomerate with diversified businesses. The Group mainly focuses on three core industries: comprehensive transportation, featured finance, residential communities and industrial parks. CMG is a crucial participant and promoter of the Belt and Road initiative. The Group has accelerated the pace of international development with 68 ports in 27 countries and regions operated globally. It has initially formed a relatively complete network of overseas ports, logistics, finance and industrial parks, which majorly located in the significant areas along the Belt and Road countries and regions. The mature Shekou development model of "Port-Park-City" has gradually taken root overseas.

In 2019, CMG's Belt and Road projects made gratifying progress: the acquisition of 10 terminal projects of CMA CGM in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the Caribbean further expanded the Group's global port network; Djibouti's comprehensive development project progressed steadily with a total of 79 companies entering the industrial park, which was selected as the Top 10 Free Trade Zones in the World 2019 by FDI Magazine; and the construction of the China-Belarus Industrial Park achieved significant progress with a total of 60 companies entering the industrial park and the foundation of the exhibition center project. The number and frequency of China-Europe logistics corridors have been increasing：in 2019, a total of 1,258 international freight trains and 129,000 TEUs of goods were shipped; China Merchants Hoi Tung's food business successfully entered the North America market with the acquisition of Liqiao Company in Canada.

Mr Johnson Kong is the Immediate Past President of the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants and was elected as President in 2019/20. Mr Kong was first elected to Council in 2015, and served as Vice-President in 2018 and 2019, before becoming President in 2020.

Mr Kong is currently the Managing Director – Non Assurance of BDO Hong Kong. He has over 35 years of professional accounting experience, specializing in financial investigation, forensic and litigation support, restructuring, receivership and insolvency related work. He was one of the five BDO Medal award winners worldwide in 2020 to recognise his significant contribution to the development of the BDO network.

He has been actively involved in the development of accounting profession through his leadership and participation in a wide range of HKICPA committees. He steered the establishment of the Greater Bay Area Committee to help Hong Kong accounting profession to secure a foothold in the area, he was chairman of Professional Conduct Committee, Small and Medium Practices Committee, Ethics Committee and Nomination Committee. He has also involved in the Education Standards Committee.

As well as running business, Mr Kong’s earnest commitment to making the world better is attested by his sterling public service including his involvement with Small and Medium Practices Advisory Group of International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), Securities and Futures Appeals Tribunal, Mainland Business Advisory Committee and Service Promotion Programme Committee of Hong Kong Trade Development Council, Audit Committee of The University of Hong Kong, Advisory Committee on Graduate Employment of The Hong Kong Baptist University, and Advisory Committee for the BBA (Hons) in Professional Accountancy of The Hang Seng University of Hong Kong.

Mr. Kong qualified as a Chartered Accountant in the 1980's and is a fellow member of HKICPA and ICAEW.

Ms. Melissa K. Pang has been serving as a Law Society Council member since 2005, and was the Vice-President of the Law Society from 2014 to 2017. She was elected President of the Law Society in 2018 and re-elected in 2019 and 2020. Ms. Pang currently serves as Chairperson of Consents Committee and Pro Bono and Community Work Recognition Committee. She is also a member of several other committees overseeing policy and resources, constitutional affairs and human rights, external affairs, international legal affairs and Greater China legal affairs.

Ms. Pang is qualified to practise as a solicitor in Australia, England and Wales, and Hong Kong. She is also a Notary Public, Civil Celebrant, accredited mediator, associate member of the Hong Kong Institute of Arbitrators, and China Appointed Attesting Officer. Her main areas of practice are civil litigation, commercial law and property law. She is a Partner of Pang & Associates.

Ms. Pang is at present President-elect of LAWASIA. With her devotion to public service, Ms. Pang was awarded the Medal of Honour in 2006, Justice of the Peace in Hong Kong in 2010 and Bronze Bauhinia Star in October 2020.

Award-winning architect Nicholas Ho currently serves as Chairman of hpa (Ho & Partners Architects), a leading multi-disciplinary architectural practice headquartered in Hong Kong, and a Strategic Partner of HKTDC’s Belt and Road-related initiatives.

With years of design experience across Europe, China, Southeast Asia and the Middle East and his wealth of knowledge and insight, Ho is the Hong Kong, China (HKC)'s representative to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Business Advisory Council (ABAC), member of the HKSAR Youth Development Commission, member of Hong Kong Trade and Industry Advisory Board, member of Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) Belt and Road & Greater Bay Area Committee, and council member of Lingnan University.

With landmark projects across 50 cities in 12 countries totaling over 1 billion square feet of construction footprint, hpa has firmly established itself as an international and technologically advanced advisory platform for four decades.

Ho has a keen interest in exporting Hong Kong professional services abroad, as exemplified by his current projects across Southeast Asia, Europe and the USA. Aligning with the PRC’s mandate to develop the Belt and Road Initiative, he has been actively establishing partnership alliances along the New Silk Road.

Dr. Lam is Chairman of Hong Kong Cyberport, Non-Executive Chairman – Greater China and ASEAN Region of Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets, a member of the Committee on Innovation, Technology and Re-industrialization, the Governance Committee of the Hong Kong Growth Portfolio of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, the Belt and Road and Greater Bay Area Committee of the Hong Kong Trade and Development Council, the Court of the City University of Hong Kong, the Advisory Board of the Tencent Finance Academy Hong Kong, the Advisory Board of the Hong Kong Investor Relations Association and the Sir Murray MacLehose Trust Fund Investment Advisory Committee; Chairman of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN ESCAP) Sustainable Business Network (ESBN) and its Task Force on Banking and Finance, Honorary Advisor to Hong Kong Business Angel Network (HKBAN), Chairman of Monte Jade Science and Technology Association of Hong Kong, Vice Chairman of Pacific Basin Economic Council (PBEC), and President of Hong Kong-ASEAN Economic Cooperation Foundation.

Director, Corporate Legal Consultant and Chief Quantity Surveyor of China Harbour Engineering Co Ltd (HK), responsible for all the litigation, arbitration and contractual matters and commercial project management of engineering and building projects in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, UK, Panama, Mexico, Middle East and South East Asia region as well as administration of human resources department.

Over 40 years construction management experience both with government consultants and general contractors in many local infrastructure and building projects including Sha Tin New Town and Tai Po New Town development, Kowloon-Canton Railway Double Tracking and Electrification, Hong Kong Eastern Corridor, Airport Core Programme (ACP) projects, Container Terminal No. 8, West Rail projects, Trunk Roads Route 1, Route 7 and Route 8, Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge projects, Hong Kong International Airport Third Runway Reclamation , Integrated Waste Management Facilities and building development in Hong Kong and international infrastructure projects (ports, power stations, airports, roads and bridges).

In addition, Sr Yu is also:

• Immediate Past Chairman and Energy and Environmental Sub-Committee Chairman of the Chartered Institution of Civil Engineering Surveyors (CICES), HK Region
• Founding Member and Secretary General of Global BIM Centre of Excellence (CoE)
• Executive Director of the Architectural Society of China – Construction Management Research Sector (ASC–CMRS)
• Vice Chairman of the Hong Kong Project Management Exchange Centre (PMEC)
• Director of the China Universities Alumni (HK) Association
• Vice President of Tongji University Hong Kong Alumni Association
• Assessor of RICS, HKIS and CICES Professional Assessment for Quantity Surveyors
• Visiting Lecturer of Hong Kong Polytechnic University and University of Macau

Mr. OUM Socheat is studying PhD at Department of Public Policy at CityU Before that, he has been a professional diplomat for more than 10 years for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the Kingdom of Cambodia before. He is interested in Belt and Road projects and how they might enhance social development of Cambodia, seeking the mutual benefit, connectivity and innovation between the Greater China and ASEAN.

BSocheat holds Master Degrees in Public Administration from Seoul National University in 2015. He obtained a Diploma of High Ranking Civil Servant in 2007 and since then he has served and assigned to many posts as the official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the Kingdom of Cambodia. His latest appointment was the director of the Foreign Languages Department, National Institute of Diplomacy and International Relations.

Sophal Suon has held a number of leadership roles in the public and private sectors. He is currently the Director of Public Relations and Promotion of Private Investment at the Council for the Development of Cambodia. In his career at the Council for the Development of Cambodia, he has been involved in regional economic cooperation including ASEAN Investment Area, the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) Economic Cooperation Program, UNESCAP Asia-Pacific Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Network, ACMECS, the Mekong-Lancang Cooperation and WTO.

He is a Lead Negotiator for WTO Investment Facilitation Framework and ASEAN- China Investment Agreement and has involved in the negotiations for various agreements including the ASEAN Comprehensive Investment Agreement (ACIA) as well as ASEAN’s Investment Agreements with China, India, Republic of Korea and the investment chapters under ASEAN-Japan, ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand, the RCEP, and the Cambodia-China FTA. He was a member of Think- Tank for East Asia Economic Cooperation and East Asia Vision Group. He was elected as Young Business Leader by the Forum on East Asia and Latin America Cooperation encountered in Tokyo, 2004.
Prior to assuming his career in the CDC, he served as a senior official in charge of Public Procurement at the Ministry of Economy and Finance. He worked extensively on economic development in various financial institutions including the Credit Committee for Rural Development, the World Bank, the Asia Development Bank, and the Investment Bank Berlin. He was Chief Accountant at the United Parcel Services (UPS).

He received a bachelor’s degree in Accounting and Finance in a joint program of San Francisco University and George Town University, and Master’s degree in Public Management from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (National University of Singapore), and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government (Harvard University). He is also a graduate of the Carl Duisburg Centre in Germany specializing in economic development with a focus on investment promotion in Asia.

Mr. James Chang is Marketing Manager of Phnom Penh Special Economic Zone. His main responsibilities include overseeing the marketing and sales activities.

He obtained a Bachelor of Laws degree from National Taiwan University, Taiwan in 2010. He has more than five years of experience in the field of marketing and sales. He started his career as a Sales Assistant in a flavour and fragrance company in China in 2011. Subsequently, he joined Union Chemical Ind. Co., Ltd. in Taiwan in 2014 as Sales Representative and left as a Marketing Manager before he joined the Company in 2017.

JOHN CON-SING YUNG is currently Board member, SEVP and CIO of The Shanghai Commercial and Savings Bank, Ltd (SCSB), in charge of IT, Risk, Compliance, Legal, Operations, International business development and The Three Shanghai Bank Alliance. He also holds several key positions on behalf of SCSB in subsidiaries, Shanghai Commercial Bank (Hong Kong), AMK Microfinance (Cambodia), SCSB China Leasing (China) and China Travel Services (Taiwan). John has been leading the entry into South East Asia for SCSB for the last 15 years with now branches in Singapore and Vietnam, Representative office in Indonesia, Thailand and Cambodia. In 2018, SCSB invested in a controlling stake in AMK to return to the group’s root of serving the mass and unbanked when SCSB was established in Shanghai in 1915. AMK’s mission is not just to provide financial services to the rural poor but to help them to grow economically as SCSB have done in the pass in the Greater China Region. Through AMK’s Tonlesap app Cambodia farmer’s can easily access the supply chain from education, climate data, raw material, equipment sharing, direct to end customers and logistic needs. AMK also provide access to the “One Belt One Road” network to China through SCSB’s branches in China and cross-equity holding alliance with Shanghai’s Bank of Shanghai. John is also in charge of SCSB’s CSR effort through SCSB Arts & Cultural Foundation and SCSB Charity Foundation.

John started his career at Chase Manhattan Bank in Hong Kong before joining Shenzhen Concord, a JV investment company between Canadian Eastern Finance and the Shenzhen Government. For next decade John focused on building IT and Telecommunication businesses in the Greater China Region before joining the Shanghai Commercial and Savings Bank, Ltd. He received his AB and MBA degree from the University of Chicago.

Bank of China Limited Phnom Penh Branch (BOCPP) is a branch of Bank of China (Hong Kong) Limited (“BOCHK”). BOCHK is a major commercial banking group, one of the three note-issuing banks and the sole clearing bank for Renminbi (“RMB”) business in Hong Kong. We have strong market positions in all major businesses and enjoy leading edges in cross-border and RMB businesses. Bank of China (“BOC”) has been established for more than 100 years and is the most internationalized and diversified bank in China. As part of BOC Group’s overseas development strategy, BOCHK expedites its regional development into a top-class, full-service and internationalized regional bank.

Bank of China is the sole bank in China that continually operates on century, and is a leading commercial bank in the world. By end of first half year of 2012, the capitalization of BOC stood at USD 131.2 billion, ranked sixth among global public listed banks. The value of the bank’s brand was worth USD 21.9 billion, ranked 4th among all global financial institutions.

BOCPP was established in 2010, approved by the China Banking Regulatory Commission, a subsidiary wholly and directly owned by Bank of China Head Office. BOCPP holds a universal banking business license, which can operate all kinds of banking products and services in Cambodia and internationally. Currently focus on all sorts of account opening, deposits, loans, international settlement, trade financing, debit card business, global capital management, global remittance, financial institute business and Cambodia local clearing. Besides USD and KMR currency, we also have CNY, EUR, HK Dollar etc. In addition, besides the two current operate channel, we provide powerful online banking.

BOCPP attaches great importance to innovation and import new products, special products like: E-banking, Express Pay Card, RMB Business, CNY Pre-settlement Remittance, Smart Salary Remittance, Loan under Financing Guarantee and Commercial Property Mortgage Loan. Recently, BOCPP launched debit card and ATM service for the convenience of the customer.

BOCPP vigorously motivated RMB globalization since opening. Currently we have RMB deposit, RMB loan, RMB Remittent, RMB exchange and RMB L/G. We successfully promoted the first cross boarder RMB international trade settlement transaction between Cambodia and China on March 16th, 2011, and first RMB corporate loan business in 2012.

Mr. Larry Ng currently serves as the Managing Director of ALLNISON Auditing & Consulting Co., Ltd. and REANDA LLKG Cambodia Co., Ltd. Larry Ng has more than 20 years of experience in financial and accounting sectors in Canada, Hong Kong, China and Cambodia, providing professional accounting, taxation and consulting advises for investors.

Mr. Larry Ng is currently the lead tax advisor of The Cambodia China Hong Kong & Macau Expatriates & Business Association, and The Hong Kong Business Association of Cambodia (HKBAC), assisting in providing tax audit solutions.

Prior going to Cambodia, Mr. Ng was working in PricewaterhouseCoopers in Hong Kong, providing taxation solutions on public listing, mergers acquisitions advises, and advises on private equity funding and accounting issues. Mr. Ng first served as Assistant to President of Canadian Bank, one of the top 3 banks in Cambodia when coming to Cambodia in 2009, and later was also participating in the forming of China-ASEAN Interbank Association.

In 2010, Mr. Ng was appointed as Chief Executive Officer of Cana Securities Ltd. Mr. Ng was also one of the speakers at The 6th Fan Beibu Gulf Economic Cooperation Forum.

Mr. Ng’s community involvements include serving as the Vice-Chairman of The China Hong Kong & Macau Expatriate Business Association of Cambodia, Deputy Secretary General & Executive Director of HKBAC. HKBAC has been strengthening economic and cultural exchanges and cooperation between Hong Kong and Cambodia, and actively participating in economic interaction with the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area and promoting the business opportunities of the Belt and Road.

Ms. Catherine Chan is one of the leading female entrepreneurs originally from Hong Kong. Ms. Chan graduated from the London School of Economics and Political Science and is a Hong Kong Certified Accountant. She is also a winner of the 3rd Golden Bauhinia Women Entrepreneur Award. Ms. Chan is currently the Director of Goldfame Group, a Hong Kong-based conglomerate, investing in various industries across Asia and Europe, including Spain, Hong Kong, China and Cambodia, where she also holds multiple key management positions. Entering Cambodia in 1996, Goldfame Group is now investing in different sectors in the country, including garment and furniture manufacturing, property development, microfinance and insurance. Ms. Chan is also the co-founder of Urban Village & Factory Phnom Penh, the biggest Hong Kong development project in Cambodia. The project owns the biggest creative hub in Southeast Asia. She has led her team to win two prestigious regional awards “Best Condo Development in Asia” in 2019 and “Best Co-working Space in Asia” in 2020. Urban Village also won 14 other awards locally including “Best Condo Development in Cambodia” and “Best Condo Development in Phnom Penh” awards in two consecutive years and has been lauded by local and regional real estate industry leaders.

Catherine is member of Hong Kong Institute of Public Accountants. She is Winner of Golden Bauhinia Women Entrepreneur Awards. She also holds the following titles: -Founder & Executive Director of Urban Village & Factory Phnom Penh
-Director of Goldfame Group
-Director of Global Agricultural Development Limited
-Director of Silver Apex Company Limited (Spain)
-Chairlady of CLC (Cambodia) Microfinance
-Honourable Chairlady of Hong Kong Institute of Environmentalists
-Vice President of First Gold Charity Fund
-Honorary President for Association of Agricultural International Cooperation of Hainan Province

Prof. Sereyvath Ky is currently the director general of Institute of China Studies, Royal Academy of Cambodia. He is a senior researcher in the field of economics in Cambodia. Beside providing policy recommendation the central government, he usually shares his opinion, research results to the public via both local and international medias, including TV broadcasting, radios, and electronic newspaper. Currently, he is invited to be a senior advisor to Cambodia Chamber of Commerce. In 2019, he is an affiliate of Microeconomic competitiveness (MOC) which is organized by Professor Michael Porter, in Harvard Business School (USA). Moreover, since 2018, Prof. Sereyvath was invited to be an external advisor to the research and development center in Guizhou and economic advisor to a non-profit organization namely Konrad-Adenauer Stifftung.

For research, Prof. Sereyvath completed a project on “Strategic development of E-commerce in Cambodia on Agricultural sector” in 2020. In year 2019, Prof. Sereyvath completed a project on “Behavior Chinese Investment in Cambodia” as the project manager and project correspondent, funded by Yunnan University and Royal Academy of Cambodia. Furthermore, By the year 2018, he successfully served as project manager of the research on “Potentials and Challenges of Investment in Cambodia”, funded by the Royal Government of Cambodia.

Prof. Sereyvath has also conducted desk research on various economic topics, such as ‘Source of economic growth in Cambodia, Socio-economic challenges of Cambodia’, ‘Regional economic integration of GMS: Perspective and Risk’ and ‘A Comparative study of Characteristics of ODA of China-Japan-Korea to Cambodia’.

Prof Y Ratana served as Academic Advisor for an SPPR project about Hong Kong professional services and the Belt and Road Initiative completed by Research Centre for Sustainable Hong Kong at City University of Hong Kong in 2020.

Prof Ratana served as Vice Presidents (rector) in charge of academic affairs at the University of Cambodia from (2014 to 2019) and Vice President for Academic Affairs and Post Graduate Studies Division at the Dewey International University-DIU located in Battambang Province from May 2019 to December 2019. Before that, he had worked from the University of Cambodia for 12 years since July 2007 after graduating as Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology in March 2007 at the University of Tsukuba, Japan. He was appointed to chair many committees including exit examinations, entrance examinations, scholarships examinations, international quality assurance, and curriculum development and served as frontline communications and collaborations with ministries in charges of education and higher education institutions in Cambodia and overseas. As a university professor, Ratana has taught many courses, for both undergraduate and graduate programs, in the field of Philosophy, Political Science, Sociology and Development.

Prof Ratana has been involving with a lot of activities in promoting and enhancing the quality of higher education in Cambodia. Ratana has been involving in curriculum development both undergraduate programs and graduate programs and policy and guidelines at the University of Cambodia, in particular, and has been engaging in a number of workshops/seminars and meetings with Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, Accreditation Committee of Cambodia, and other higher education institutions to discuss, exchange of ideas and experiences in developing policies and guidelines for Cambodian higher education system and its quality. Ratana has also provided training to staff and faculty members on the 9 Minimum Standards for Institutional Accreditation.

Subhashini Abeysinghe is an economist specializing in international trade. She is an expert on Sri Lankan economy, private sector development, economic and trade policy, trade regulations, non-tariff barriers, trade facilitation, WTO and regional trade agreements. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics (first class honors), a Master’s Degree in Economics from University of Colombo, and a Master’s Degree in International Law and Economics (Summa cum Laude) from World Trade Institute, University of Bern, Switzerland. Subhashini is currently working as a Director of Research at Verité Research, a research and strategy firm based in Colombo. She has worked for the Ceylon Chamber of commerce (CCC) for nearly 10 years as a senior economist.

A recent interview on trade and development in Sri Lanka featuring Ms Abeysinghe can be viewed here: Click here

A 40-year career in maritime transportation qualifies Tissa Wickramasinghe to be considered one of Sri Lanka’s most eminent professionals in the field.

Currently Chief Operating Officer at Hambantota International Port Group (Private) Limited (HIPG), the billion dollar port infrastructure investment in Southern Sri Lanka, his career encompasses 30 years in the Ports and Terminals industry, and 10 years with the British Merchant Navy.

A British-qualified Marine Engineer, he served for 10 years as General Manager of South Asia Gateway Terminals (Pvt) Ltd. (SAGT) the first public-private partnership project of the Port of Colombo, and as Director Projects in the Transport Sector, responsible for overseas port development business at Sri Lanka’s leading conglomerate John Keells Holdings (JKH). He then joined Colombo International Container Terminals (Pvt) Ltd. (CICT), the second public-private partnership project between China Merchants Port Holdings and the Sri Lanka Ports Authority in the Port of Colombo.

Tissa Wickramasinghe’s extensive experience in the Port and Terminal industry in the public and private sectors in Sri Lanka and overseas includes the negotiation of Public, Private Partnership (PPP) projects with state authorities and the establishment of new joint venture port projects under Public / Private Partnership schemes. He has the rare distinction of possessing knowledge, skills and working experience in the technical and operational aspects of port management as well as in marketing and commercial aspects.

He is a Fellow of the Institute of Marine Engineering Science & Technology (UK) and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Logistics & Transport (UK).

Ir. Lau has participated in the Construction Industry for more than 35 years; he has extensive experience in managing and overall planning of large scale site formation works, earthwork, road and drainage, bridgework and infrastructure work. He has engaged in various contracts with different nature and is familiar with different systems of project administration and contract management.

Between Year 2005 to 2008, he was assigned to stay overseas to manage a number of construction projects in Sri Lanka and Qatar. During his 4 years staying in Sri Lanka, he participated in the formulation of some major infrastructure projects which became realized in later stage, the Hambantota Port Development and Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport. These were distinguished projects and funding of these projects were provided by the People Republic China Stated owned Bank through soft loan arrangement. These infrastructures were treated as the pilot projects of the Belt and Road Initiative.

Thiru is a UK qualified telecoms professional with an Bachelor’s Hons Electronics Degree from Loughborough University, a Masters Degree in Telecommunications from Aston Birmingham and a Masters Degree in Management from Imperial College. He has over 30 years of experience in the telecom industry initially with Singapore Telecoms and then for more than 20 years with Hutchison Telecoms, Hong Kong. Thiru is presently based in Sri Lanka and last year has lead a unique merger of two nationwide mobile operations of Hutch & Etisalat in order to compete more effectively with the market leaders and also to position the merged company for future broadband data expansions in 4G and 5G.

Thiru has positioned himself as an ‘emerging market telecom specialist’ holding senior management positions on the ground in India, Indonesia , Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and Sri Lanka. He has also done a brief stint in the MEA region managing multiple telecom operations in western, central and northern Africa, and has been fortunate to have been involved in deploying all wireless technologies from paging to ETACS analogue, GSM/CDMA, 3G UMTS and now 4G LTE mobile technologies in the region.

Thiru’s primary mission has been to enter new markets and establish greenfield telecom operations including fully localized organisations focused on addressing the specific needs of the local market with the most appropriate wireless technologies that delivers an ROI to shareholders. He has also been involved in the re-structuring and re-focussing of under-performing telecom operations in the region.

Mr. Cheng Lap Yin (鄭立言), is the cofounder and Chairman of Hanbo group. He had been responsible for the company’s business development and marketing and successfully led the group to list on the mainboard of the Hong Kong Exchange in July 2014. He sold all his shares of Hanbo in October 2016, and has diversified into various businesses including food and beverages, program trading, blockchain and IT, ESG reporting, co-working and incubation center. His recent focus is on IT deployment in supply chain management and trade finance, and Smart Chain has recently partnered with HSBC to complete the first digital end-to-end trade finance transaction on eTradeConnect, a blockchain-based trade finance platform in Hong Kong.

Mr. Cheng obtained an Executive Master of Business Administration (EMBA) degree and a Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) degree at the City University of Hong Kong. He is also Business Advisor of Operation and Supply Chain Management at College of Business, City University of Hong Kong.

Mr. Cheng is also the co-founder of the Hong Kong Apparel Society Limited (HKAS), which is an influential representative organization of apparel industry SMEs in Hong Kong. He is also currently Council member of Hong Kong Textile Council, the Executive Committee Member of Sustainable Fashion Business Consortium (SFBC) and Fashion Industry Development Council (FIDC) in Hong Kong.