Chinese consul general Peng Keyu to speak at Saint Martin's China Business Conference
Friday, April 2, 2004
Lacey - Ambassador Peng Keyu, consul
general of the People’s Republic of China in San Francisco, will be a
keynote speaker at Saint Martin’s College’s April 9 conference, “The
Timing is Right: Doing Business With China.”
Peng, who arrived at his new post earlier
this year, served as ambassador to the Republic of Zambia before coming
to the United States. He will join Washington Gov. Gary Locke and Joseph
Borich, executive director of the Washington State China Relations
Council, at the conference podium.
The conference will be from 8 a.m. - 2 p.m.
at the Saint Martin’s College Pavilion and Worthington Conference
Center, 5300 Pacific Ave., Lacey. Proceeds from conference fees will
support Saint Martin’s College students participating in the College’s
International Business Tour to China and Japan this summer.
The conference was planned to help
Washington businesses - especially smaller businesses with fewer
resources - plan for a future in which China plays a larger role in both
business opportunities and threats. China, a country in dramatic
economic transition, is projected to have the world’s largest economy by
2010. Because of the state’s geographic proximity and existing trade
ties, area businesses are likely to experience great impacts.
“China is as impossible to ignore as the
elephant in the closet,” said conference chairman Riley Moore, assistant
professor of finance and economics at Saint Martin’s. “Whether you are
enthusiastic about the idea of doing business with China or overwhelmed
by it; whether you see opportunities or feel your business may be
threatened by it, the economic reality is that China will continue to
impact the United States. The conference is a chance for businesses to
begin educating themselves.”
Moore said many of the region’s top
experts have been drawn together to present information in such areas as
logistics and financing to tax implications, export/import assistance,
government assistance, protection of intellectual/artistic property and
more. Presenters will be:
-Bill Dallas, international trade
specialist, China and Europe, Washington State Department of
Agriculture.
-Brendan Dugan, senior director, marketing and trade, Port of Tacoma.
-Warren Gross, managing director/president, Export Finance Assistance
Center of Washington, a private non-profit established by the state
legislature to assist small and medium-sized businesses in becoming more
active in exporting.
-Davud Hager, J.D., attorney
and counselor at law; mediator and conflict resolution consultant,
business facilitator and executive coach. Hager has been a legal and
government relations advisor for companies investing in China, as well
as negotiator of agreements and dispute mediator with Chinese
enterprises and government entities.
-Bill Hsu, J.D. and L.L.M., senior
associate, International Tax and Advisory Services, Deloitte & Touche.
-Francis Iwasawa,
Asahi Iwasawa & Associates, in affiliation with Shinjuku Audit
Corporation-Japan, whose accounting and management consulting firm helps
some 150 Japanese businesses facilitate enterprises in Hong Kong and
Mainland China.
-Darrek Jesse, R.P.E. founder and owner,
Jesse Engineering Co., a shipyard machinery products firm that now does
almost half its business with China.
-Young Oh, director, Tacoma Export
Assistance Center, U.S. Commercial Service, ITA, DOC.
-Kari Qvigstad, director
of marketing and business development, Port of Olympia.
-Sidney Rittenberg Sr., Rittenberg &
Associates Inc., consultants for individuals, agencies and businesses
doing business with China. Rittenberg, 81, a visiting professor of China
studies at Pacific Lutheran University. From the ‘40s until 1977, he
worked in China in several capacities and has known every Chinese leader
since Zhou Enlai.
-Greg Shelton, assistant
director, Global Trade, Transportation, and Logistics Studies Program,
University of Washington.
-Thomas Taylor, senior vice president and
manager, overseas banking division, international banking group, U.S.
Bank.
-David Wing, district sales manager, Expeditors International of
Washington Inc., a Seattle-based company providing customized global
logistics services.
-Tong Zhu, Greater China Program manager,
Washington State Department of Community, Trade and Economic
Development, International Trade Division.
The conference is being presented by
Saint Martin’s College School of Business and office of international
programs in partnership with the Economic Development Board for
Tacoma-Pierce County; Economic Development Council of Thurston County;
City of Lacey; Olympia-Thurston County Chamber of Commerce; ports of
Olympia, Seattle and Tacoma; Tacoma U.S. Export Assistance Center, U.S.
Dept. of Commerce; Thurston County Economic Development Council; World
Trade Center Tacoma; Washington Department of Community, Trade and
Economic Development; Washington State China Relations Council.
Sponsors are Venture Bank and Advance
Travel, Seattle and Korean Airlines; Olympia Federal Savings; Port of
Tacoma; Anchor Savings Bank; Port of Olympia; U.S. Bank; Bank of
America; Port of Seattle; Sodexho; and Starbucks.
For more information about the
conference, please call the college at 360-438-4504.
For more information:
Riley Moore, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, finance and economics
360-438-4511; rmoore@stmartin.edu
Deanna Partlow, media relations
coordinator
Saint Martin’s Office of Communication
360-438-4541 or dpartlow@stmartin.edu