WEATHERING THE STORM: prospects and opportunities in Asia 2021 and beyond

Our event partners:

The appearance of COVID, and its impact on the global economy, have only added to regional uncertainties arising from the U.S. China trade and technology war, increased military tensions in the South China Sea, the continuing upheavals in Hong Kong, student demonstrations in Thailand, the growing impacts of climate change and, not least, the imminent U.S elections.    Following from last year's highly successful event ‘Is Volatility the Name of the Game for the Remainder of 2019’, we have again convened a panel of experts to share their views on risks, trends, and potential outcomes for 2021 and beyond.    As a special feature, Peter Hall, Vice-President and Chief Economist of Export Development Canada will be joining us from Ottawa to present the EDC economics team’s outlook for the global economy in relation to COVID-19, insights on GDP growth for key economies, commodity prices, interest rates and exchange rates, and the impact and future outlook for Canadian business and investment in the region.   We are delighted to welcome returning panelists Michael Bociurkiw, Global Affairs Analyst and CNN Opinion contributor, joining us from Canada and Chi-Jia Tschang, Senior Director, Bower Group Asia, from Hong Kong. We are also pleased to welcome the participation of highly experienced additions, Dane Chamorro, Partner, Control Risks in Singapore and Julia Lee Founder and Chief Investment Officer at Burman Invest, from Sydney Australia. Finally, we have esteemed journalist and broadcaster, Teymoor Nabili, CEO of Tech For Impact, moderating the discussion.  As this is a complimentary event and we expect to generate a lot of interest, please make sure to register early! During registration, you will be invited to submit questions you wish for panelists to address during the event.

Our event partners:

• American Chamber of Commerce in Singapore
• Asia Pacific Foundation
• Canada-ASEAN Business Council
• Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Japan
• Malaysia Canada Business Council
• Singapore International Chamber of Commerce
• Thai-Canadian Chamber of Commerce
• The Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong

We look forward to your participation.

Guest Panelists:

Peter Hall, VP & Chief Economist at EDC  Peter Hall joined Export Development Canada (EDC) in November 2004. With over 30 years of experience in economic analysis and forecasting, Mr. Hall is responsible for overseeing EDC’s economic analysis, country risk assessment, and corporate research groups. In addition to preparing strategic advice for senior management at EDC, Mr. Hall is a featured speaker at conferences, international roundtables, and policy fora, and regularly appears in television, radio, and print media commenting on the world economy and Canadian international trade issues. He produces a widely circulated print and video weekly commentary covering an eclectic range of current global economic issues.

Prior to joining EDC, Mr. Hall directed the economic forecasting activities of the Conference Board of Canada. Mr. Hall has served as president of both the Canadian Association for Business Economics, a 600-member national association of professional economists, and its largest local chapter, the Ottawa Economics Association. He has also been a volunteer board and committee member for two Ottawa area private schools. Mr. Hall has degrees in economics from both Carleton University and the University of Toronto.

Dane Chamorro, Partner, Control Risks in Singapore  Dane Chamorro has lived in Asia for over 20 years and is currently Senior Managing Director for South East Asia at Control Risks based in Singapore. He regularly advises multinational strategic investors and private equity firms on corporate governance, political and partner risks, and high profile business disputes. Prior to his current role, Dane was Director of Political Risk Analysis for the Asia Pacific region where he was responsible for a team conducting investment assessments on behalf of multinational and sovereign clients. Previously Managing Director of the company’s North Asia territory (Greater China, Korea, and Mongolia from 2007-11), Dane opened the Hongkong and Beijing offices of Control Risks.  Before joining Control Risks, Dane worked as the Asia Pacific Government Programs Manager for Geneva listed SGS Societe Generale de Surveillance developing fiscal governance programs for sovereign clients in South and South East Asia including two under World Bank auspices in Cambodia and Bangladesh. Dane also worked as a consultant for the Hong Kong office of Chicago’s Technomic Consultants, Thailand's Manager Media Group, and advised on government relations for the world’s largest nuclear fuel trading firm.   Dane is a former US diplomatic officer and a frequent speaker at international conferences on governance and political issues focused on Asia including the World Bank/IMF, The Conference Board, and the International Bar Association. Dane is an honors graduate of Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service with a degree in International Finance and completed graduate research on comparative Asian political-economy and security issues at the University of California. He is also an honors graduate of the US Army Intelligence School, speaks Mandarin Chinese, and is a Certified Fraud Examiner and licensed investigator in Singapore.

Julia Lee, Chief Investment Officer Burman Invest  Julia is the founder and Chief Investment Officer at Burman Invest. She has 20 years of experience in financial markets. Julia has worked in various market-facing roles, including as an Equities Strategist with Bell Direct for 11 years. Her passion for markets is in combining fundamental and technical analysis to analyze companies. Julia is one of Australia's best-known financial experts providing financial commentary to SKY News, Bloomberg, CNBC, ABC, Sunrise, and on the radio and internet. Julia has also hosted several share market shows including “Your Money, Your Call”, “Equity Investor” and “Educated Investor” on Sky News, Sky Business Channel, and the Your Money channel. She is a regular contributor to industry publications and is a frequent speaker at industry conferences. Julia Lee is on the board of directors for the Australian Stockbrokers Foundation. She has her Master of Business in Finance (MBus), is an accredited Derivatives Adviser 2 (ADA2(ASX)), and is RG 146 compliant.

Chi-Jia Tschang, Senior Director, BowerGroupAsia, Hong Kong  Chi-Jia is responsible for managing, maintaining, and expanding regional client relationships as well as serving as BGA’s Hong Kong market lead and permanent presence.  Chi-Jia has over a decade of experience in international affairs and crisis management. Prior to joining BGA, Chi-Jia worked at Goldman Sachs for nearly 10 years, where she oversaw the company’s Asia-Pacific internal crisis management and geopolitical risk programs. In addition to responding to developments, she worked with a team to monitor, investigate and report on risk issues across the region while developing relationships with experts on regional issues.  Before moving to Hong Kong, Chi-Jia worked in the Beijing office of International Crisis Group (ICG), an independent, non-profit research organization committed to providing independent analysis and advice on how to prevent, resolve or better manage deadly conflict. Her research focused on Chinese foreign affairs and its regional relationships and she interacted with government officials and academics on these issues to understand China’s perspectives and bring them to a wider audience through the ICG reports. Chi-Jia founded the Hong Kong chapter of Young China Watchers in 2012 and remains involved in the chapter’s activities.  Chi-Jia earned a bachelor’s degree in government from Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, and a master’s degree in international relations from Peking University in Beijing. She reads and speaks Mandarin Chinese.

Michael Bociurkiw, Global Affairs Analyst and CNN Opinion Contributor. Michael Bociurkiw is familiar to television viewers around the world through his on-air commentary for such outlets as BBC World, CNN, Bloomberg, CBC, CTV, and Al Jazeera. As an independent global affairs analyst, he is a contributor for CNN Opinion and speaks on geopolitics worldwide. A two-time TEDx speaker, Michael tackles such issues as diplomacy, conflict, disinformation and manipulation, the business of humanitarian aid, technology, and climate change. In recent months he has been writing extensively about the impact of Covid-19 on the global economy and diplomacy. In February 2020, he launched a podcast on geopolitics called Global Impact. As a journalist, Michael has reported for a variety of leading outlets - including MSNBC, the Los Angeles Times, the Globe and Mail, Forbes, and Newsweek. He has been a staff reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press, the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong and Manila, Eastern Express in Hong Kong, and Asia Times in Thailand and Malaysia. He learned the craft of journalism at Carleton University in Ottawa, and at Columbia University in New York City. Michael has served as a global spokesperson for UNICEF and as a spokesperson for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), including during the shoot-down of MH17 over eastern Ukraine in 2014. Currently, Michael is completing work on his first non-fiction book on smartphone and social media addiction called 'Digital Crack.’ He was also the editor of a biographical book on Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. Born in Edmonton, Michael was raised in Ottawa and London, England, and now calls Sidney, BC as home.

Moderator:

Teymoor Nabili, Journalist and Broadcaster, CEO of Tech For Impact. Teymoor Nabili is a veteran journalist and broadcaster, and CEO of a startup online news venture called "The Signal". Nabili is also the host and Executive Editor of two programs on Channel News Asia. During his career spanning 30 years, Nabili has covered news in more than 30 countries across Europe, Asia, and the Americas for Al Jazeera English, the BBC, CNN, and CNBC, and Channel 4 News. He is a winner of ‘Best News Presenter/Anchor’ at the Asian TV Awards in 2005, Teymoor has also received awards from the UK Royal Television Society for his coverage of the Utah Olympic bribery scandal, and from the New York Awards for reporting on economic development in Malaysia. Reporting highlights include covering the September 11th terrorist attack on New York City for Channel 4 News and the Asian tsunami from Sri Lanka for CNBC.