2024 FBS event wraps up with talks on Asean, scientific research, Europe, US-China ties

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The second day of the by-invitation event kicked off with a discussion about opportunities in Asean with Malaysia at the helm

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Pre-conference dinner of the 2024 Family Business Summit at the Four Seasons Hotel on November 15, 2024. Photo: Jonathan Wong.

SCMP Reporter

Published: 7:12pm, 17 Nov 2024Updated: 11:08pm, 17 Nov 2024

The 2024 Family Business Summit (FBS) concluded in Hong Kong as the principal members of more than 100 wealthy families exchanged views on a broad range of topics with distinguished speakers from different fields.

The second day of the by-invitation event kicked off with a discussion about opportunities in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) as Malaysia prepares to assume the rotating chairmanship of the regional bloc. The panel, moderated by the Post’s Executive Managing Editor Zuraidah Ibrahim, featured Malaysia’s Minister of Transport Anthony Loke and Tony Fernandes, the chief executive of Capital A Berhad, which operates Southeast Asia’s largest airline AirAsia.

A panel about Hong Kong’s role in cutting-edge science was headlined by two trailblazing researchers from the Faculty of Medicine of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, both among the world’s foremost authorities in their respective fields.

Professor Dennis Lo, the incoming president of the university, spoke about his groundbreaking work in finding fetal DNA in maternal plasma, while Professor Ng Siew Chien spoke about her work in gut microbiome, moderated by the Post’s Managing Editor Eugene Tang.

(From left) Tammy Tam, editor-in-chief, SCMP; Ambassador Cui Tiankai, adviser to the Council of the Chinese People’s Institute of Foreign Affairs, and Joe Tsai, co-founder and chairman, Alibaba Group, during the 2024 Family Business Summit at the Island Shangri-La in Admiralty on 17 November 2024. Photo: Jelly Tse

A panel about the future of Europe’s security took place before lunch. Moderated by JPMorgan’s co-head of global banking Filippo Gori, the panel featured the European Commission’s former president Jose Manuel Barroso, the former Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs Arancha Gonzalez, and Maurice Gourdault-Montagne, the former French ambassador to China, Japan, the UK and Germany.

The highlight of the day was a post-lunch fireside chat about US-China relations with Cui Tiankai, the former Chinese ambassador to the United States who dealt with three administrations through the presidencies of Barack Obama, Donald Trump and Joe Biden.