Top CEOs to speak at Bali summit
Top CEOs to speak at Bali summit
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
World-class CEOs from the region and other parts of the world
will speak at the upcoming ASEAN business and investment summit
on Bali, a top envoy said.
Chairman of the ASEAN Business Advisory Council (ASEAN BAC)
Rudy J. Pesik told The Jakarta Post last week that the CEOs will
join 11 heads of state from ASEAN member countries plus India,
China, South Korea and Japan.
He, however, said that the presence of Japanese Prime Minister
Junichiro Koizumi was not yet certain, pending the result of the
general election in his country.
Rudy said that the top business leaders to speak in the
business and investment forum were CEOs of Toyota Corp., Daimler
Chrysler, Proton, Singapore International Airlines, SingTel, Tata
Engineering, Ayala Corp., Keppel Group, Charoen Pokpand and PT
Indofood Sukses Makmur.
"We're still trying hard to get Bill Gates to also speak in
the forum," he said, although acknowledging that the chance would
be slim as Gates already had a busy schedule for the next year.
About 1,000 businesspeople from members countries of the
Association of South East Asian Nations and its key trading
partners like Japan, China, India, and South Korea are expected
to participate in the summit, which will be held from Oct. 5 to
Oct. 7.
The event will be held in conjunction with the ASEAN leaders
summit.
Rudy explained that one of the mandates of ASEAN BAC when it
was set up two years ago was to hold a business summit.
He said that the business and investment summit had two main
goals: integration of ASEAN business and economy, and how to
boost the competitiveness of the ASEAN region.
"We'll focus on what needs to be done to make ASEAN as one
integrated region," he said.
Rudy was optimistic that the event could be implemented
successfully despite very limited time for preparation. He was
appointed as ASEAN BAC chairman in April.
He recalled that in the beginning it was very difficult to get
sponsors for the event particularly as many companies had already
provided sponsorship for the APEC event in Bangkok, which will
also be held next month.
"I had to underwrite it by providing a personal guarantee of
US$1 million ... to show people that I believe in this," he said,
adding that DHL became the first sponsor by providing $50,000.
Rudy is the CEO of DHL's Indonesian operation.