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Hong Kong SMEs Show Signs of Uptake of Sustainability and ESG, Despite Limited Risk Awareness

HKU Survey throws light on how to make sustainability and ESG more relatable to Hong Kong SMEs, enabling the sector to involve more and driving real impact

HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach – 28 July 2022 – ESG and sustainability issues alike have been moving up the corporate agenda in recent years. According to Google Search Trend, the keyword ‘ESG’ search popularity in Hong Kong has been soaring and surpassed ‘Sustainability’ in May this year. However, public curiosity about the topic doesn’t seem to convert into actual practice, according to the territory-wide small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) sustainability survey (the Survey) conducted by the Centre for Civil Society and Governance (CCSG) at The University of Hong Kong. From November 2021 to April 2022, the Survey solicited views from 1,400 SMEs (SMEs) in Hong Kong to understand their perceptions, practices, and preparedness towards achieving sustainability.

Centre for Civil Society and Governance, The University of Hong Kong sharing results of the “Diagnostic Study for SME Sustainability Survey”. The Survey reveals that Hong Kong SMEs show signs of uptake of sustainability and ESG, despite limited risk awareness.
Left: Mr. Darwin Leung, Assistant Project Manager of the Centre for Civil Society and Governance (CCSG) at the University of Hong Kong
Right: Professor Wai-Fung Lam, Director of the Centre for Civil Society and Governance (CCSG), and Professor of Politics and Public Administration at the University of Hong Kong

Supported by The Hongkong Bank Foundation, the Partnership for Sustainability Leadership in Business (PSLB) programme under the CCSG at The University of Hong Kong organised the third Knowledge Primer (KP) today, with the theme ‘Rethinking Sustainability for SMEs: Go Circular and Build Resilience’. The event brought together over 120 sustainability experts and industry practitioners. The KP started by releasing the findings of the ‘Diagnostic Study for SME Sustainability Survey’, which provides a landscape analysis of the uptake of ESG and sustainability by Hong Kong SMEs, and identifies the pain points that hinder their capacity to take further action. The Study also provides a baseline for any future research and market analysis on SMEs’ sustainability efforts and achievements.

SMEs Tend to Perform Better in Resource Management

According to the findings, slightly over one-third (36.7%) SMEs rated themselves as effective at advancing sustainability goals compared to only 4.4% of SMEs rated ineffective. Among the 24 practices across five dimensions, namely governance, workplace culture, customer-supplier relationships, resource management and innovation, the study reveals that the average number of sustainability practices adopted was 7.7 across all industries. No particular sector has an impressive performance across all five dimensions, but SMEs tend to perform better in resource management while there seems to be considerable room for improvement in innovation and corporate governance.

Top Three Most Pressing Sustainability Challenges for SMEs

The majority of SMEs (98.3%) indicated that they encounter sustainability challenges now and the top three sustainability challenges are namely economic and financial instability (65.4%), global health crisis (e.g. COVID-19) (53.8%), and consumer expectations (22.9%), which suggest that SMEs are struggling to stay resilient and recover from the unstable economic environment. In contrast, long-term social-ecological risks such as climate change, human rights, and inequality only received 6.3%, 4.8%, and 3% of respondents identified them as a challenge. This might suggest that SMEs are less concerned about the potential risks induced by climate change, or not aware enough of social challenges such as inequalities at workplace that could cause serious implications for their businesses in the long run. This implies the need to educate SMEs about the importance of integrating the ESG framework as an enterprise risk management practice so that they can realise potential risks early on and mitigate the impact.

Government and Industry Support to Speed Up the Sustainability Advancement

According to the findings, the most needed support for integrating sustainability into the SMEs business operations, strategies and business models are namely financial support (47.7%), and marketing support (41.2%), whilst such support is ideally provided by the Government (69%), followed by business associations, and banks and financial institutions, both received 30.8% of the response. This implies the most effective way to encourage SMEs to integrate sustainability is to offer financial incentives. It urges the government to accelerate the development of Green and Sustainable Finance and offer an actionable timeline and policy framework for financial institutions and business organisations to follow.

Professor Wai-Fung Lam, Director of the Centre for Civil Society and Governance (CCSG), and Professor of Politics and Public Administration at the University of Hong Kong remarked: “The business sustainability agenda has been steadily gaining momentum. However, the spotlight remains on the role of multinational corporations and listed companies. As the engine of economic progress, SMEs have made diverse contributions to social and environmental well-being. Yet, their unique challenges and constraints have not been widely studied. This points to the need to understand the role and positioning of SMEs in creating the impulse to achieve widespread positive, social, environmental and economic change for a more sustainable future.

Award Ceremony of the SVC Commitment and SMEs Sustainability Leadership Recognition Scheme

The release of the report findings was followed by the award ceremony of the SVC Commitment and SMEs Sustainability Leadership Recognition Schemes (The Scheme), for recognising the achievement and support received from the participating corporates and SMEs of Cohort 2021. A total of seven SVC signatory companies, including Japan Airlines Company Limited, LH Group, Nan Fung Development Limited, New World Development Company Limited, Rosewood Hotel Group, Starbucks Coffee Asia Pacific Limited and The Hong Kong and China Gas Company Limited, alongside 16 SMEs from across different industries received Merit recognitions.

At the corporate dialogue session, representatives from the participating corporate and SME of Cohort 2022 shared their insights on the merits of collaboration with value chain stakeholders in advancing sustainability goals.

Mr. Him Lo, Senior Manager, Cultural and Community Engagement, Nan Fung Development Ltd said, “Achieving sustainability such as the transition towards circular economy and an inclusive society has become increasingly dependent on partnerships with diverse stakeholders along the value chain and across different sectors. Companies and organisations including large corporates, SMEs, start-ups, social enterprises and NGOs should pull together resources, knowledge and skills with the aim to accelerate sustainability innovations and lead on better social and environment outcomes.”

Ms. Vickie Au, Founder of V Visionary Limited added, “The SVC Commitment and SMEs Sustainability Leadership Recognition Schemes provides a useful platform to connect like-minded companies to act on specific sustainability issues through collaboration, innovation and creativity.”

Lastly, details of Cohort 2022 of the Schemes regarding the theme on “Circularity and Resilience” and “Foodservice” industry focus were announced with an official call for applications. The PSLB team is also pleased to announce that New World Development Company Limited and Sino Land Company Limited have expressed interest to participate in the action realisation of the Scheme, with an aim to drive circular economy practices and build resilient value chains.

Hashtag: #PSLB #CCSG

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

About the Partnership for Sustainability Leadership in Business

The “Partnership for Sustainability Leadership in Business” (PSLB) is a four-year (2020~2023) project initiated by the Centre for Civil Society and Governance, HKU, and supported by The Hongkong Bank Foundation. The Project is led by Professor Wai-Fung Lam together with a group of sustainability experts. It is aimed at fostering sustainability leadership and collaboration in the business sector of Hong Kong through knowledge transfer, capacity building, and network development; in particular, the Project strives to foster strong partnerships between big corporations and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in pursuit of sustainability. The Project aspires to build a collaborative ecosystem which will enhance the capacity and role of SMEs in Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area in attaining sustainable development. More details:

About the Centre for Civil Society and Governance of The University of Hong Kong

Established in December 2002, the Centre for Civil Society and Governance (the Centre) strives to enhance our knowledge of civil society and its contribution towards good governance, and to facilitate the attainment of a sustainable society through forging community-based, innovative solutions to inform policy deliberation and collective actions. The work of the Centre is organized around three Labs—the Policy for Sustainability Lab (PSL), the Social Entrepreneurship and Civic Action Lab (SECAL), and the Nonprofits and Philanthropy Lab (NPPL); each of them representing a research focus and an area of excellence of the Centre. More details:

Residential and CRE Investments in GBA Gain Traction

Residential property prices rose across the board

New economy assets such as industrial, logistics and data centres on the rise

Transactions In 1H 2022 Amounted to RMB24 Billion, 5-Year Record High by Investment Share in Greater China

  • In 1H 2022, the overall sales figure for the primary and secondary residential market demonstrated a year-on-year downturn. Nevertheless, the majority of the transactions were premium and luxury properties, pushing the overall house price benchmark upwards. The total sales figure for the year is expected to rise by 5% to 10%.
  • The CRE investment market in the Greater Bay Area (GBA) recorded a total transaction value of RMB24 billion, accounting for about 32% of the total large size deals (>100M RMB) in China, hitting a five-year record high by investment share.
  • Investment in new economy assets such as industrial, logistics, and data centres has increased significantly and started to dominate the market. In particular, transactions of industrial logistics in Shenzhen made up 73% of the GBA market, a six-fold rise on the same period last year.
  • Investment transaction activity in 1H 2022 was dominated by domestic investors at RMB22.2 billion, demonstrating optimism in investment appetite.

HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach – 28 July 2022 – Global real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield today published its Greater Bay Area Property Investment Market Review and Outlook 1H 2022. In 1H 2022, the residential market in the Greater Bay Area (GBA) demonstrated a price increase, but coupled with a fall in the number of transactions. The overall sales figure has dropped by around 45% y-o-y, yet the price has shown a general upward trend. With the development of GBA cities becoming more mature and as the transportation network completes, demand in logistics from Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Dongguan have expanded to other GBA cities, resulting in increased investment activities in new economy assets such as industrial, logistics, industrial parks, and data centers. However, due to the continued impact of the pandemic on corporate development and retail consumption, investors have become more cautious about conventional offices and shopping centres, while self-use-driven purposes covered 90% of the total investment share.

Residential Price and Sales Volume in the GBA

Amongst all GBA cities, residential property prices in Guangzhou and Shenzhen have shown outstanding performance, while the other seven cities remained stable. The two major cities of Shenzhen and Guangzhou have recorded RMB75,045 and RMB38,821 per sq m, representing a y-o-y increase of 17.1% and 13.6%, respectively. Other cities such as Foshan and Dongguan have recorded an approximately 80% increment since 2017, with Guangzhou showing a 136% rise (Chart 1). The impact of the pandemic, and the recent government control measures in Shenzhen and Guangzhou, resulted in pre-sale and supply of premium and luxury properties instead of mid-range priced stocks. As a result, the noticeable rise in property prices masked the declining trend of transaction volume in all cities.

From the sales data, the overall sales figures and residential property prices in the GBA have moved in opposite directions in 1H 2022. The number of first- and second-hand transactions have totalled around 190,000, a fall of 45% y-o-y. Although being the highest among the GBA cities, the sales figures of Guangzhou and Foshan were still behind the performance at the same time last year. The drop was most obvious for Huizhou, Zhuhai, and Dongguan, at 60% y-o-y.

Alva To, Cushman & Wakefield’s Vice President, Greater China & Head of Consulting, Greater China mentions, “The increment of first-and-second-hand residential property prices in the GBA in 1H 2022 was driven by transactions of premium and luxury properties, while we expect the price to remain stable throughout the year. Despite a plunge in overall transaction volume in 1H 2022, we expect the transaction volume to increase by 5% to 10% as the government’s control measures ease.”

GBA CRE Investment Transaction Number and Value

Since the launch of the Framework Agreement on Deepening Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Cooperation in the Development of the Greater Bay Area in 2017, CRE transactions have become more active, gradually increasing CRE’s share of investment in Greater China. Despite the impact of the pandemic, the total national transaction value was recorded at RMB74.7 billion in 1H 2022. Large size transactions in the GBA attributed to 32% of the Greater China share, hitting a five-year high since 2018 (Chart 3), showing the increased investment traction. The total annual transaction value is expected to reach RMB65.5 billion for the full year 2022.

Transaction Value and Distribution of Investors

In terms of transaction value, most transactions in the GBA were smaller value deals. Of the 26 deals recorded in 1H 2022, 19 of them were below RMB1 billion, accounting for 73% of the deal count (Chart 4). As for the source of market capital, transactions from foreign capital plunged by 80% y-o-y. Transactions by foreign capital amounted to RMB8.6 billion in 1H 2021 but only RMB1.8 billion in 1H 2022, while those by domestic investors reached RMB22 billion. This shows investors’ optimism towards the future of the CRE investment market.

Investment Types by CRE Assets in the GBA

Charli Chan, Cushman & Wakefield’s Executive Director, Capital Markets, China shared, “Investors have become cautious about traditional assets, with self-use making up close to 90% of the office investors. Meanwhile, investment in new economy assets such as industrial, logistics and data centres has significantly increased (Chart 5) and will likely reach RMB20 billion in 2022. At the same time, the total transaction value in the GBA will likely reach around RMB65.5 billion in 2022.”

Property transactions in Shenzhen and Guangzhou have remained active amongst the GBA cities in 1H 2022, with Shenzhen achieving 15 large-size transactions totalling RMB11.55 billion, while Guangzhou recorded 10 large-size transactions totalling RMB12.1 billion. This figure has also broken a new record and marked a five-year high in the local market. In Shenzhen, industrial property transactions made up 73% of the total and recorded a six-fold increment y-o-y. Amongst the transactions were those from biotechnology, logistics, data centres, and traditional banking and insurance industries, demonstrating a diversified array of CRE investment sources in the GBA.

Alva To, Cushman & Wakefield’s Vice President, Greater China & Head of Consulting, Greater China concluded, “The enhancement of the transportation infrastructure network in core cities in the GBA has resulted in increased demand for logistic assets in Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Dongguan; and brought about greater prosperity and integration to other GBA cities. Apart from traditional properties such as offices and shopping centres, we also expect new economy properties such as industrial logistics, industrial parks, and data centres to join the limelight in the CRE investment market in the GBA. In addition, development plans around the GBA such as the Northern Metropolitan and Qianhai will gradually gain more attention from investors and bring about a greater platform and interest in future investment opportunities.”

Please click here to download photos and materials.

Photo description: Charli Chan, Cushman & Wakefield’s Executive Director, Capital Markets, China (on the left), and Alva To, Cushman & Wakefield’s Vice President, Greater China & Head of Consulting, Greater China (on the right).

Hashtag: #CushmanWakefield

About Cushman & Wakefield

Cushman & Wakefield (NYSE: CWK) is a leading global real estate services firm that delivers exceptional value for real estate occupiers and owners. Cushman & Wakefield is among the largest real estate services firms with approximately 50,000 employees in over 400 offices and 60 countries. Across Greater China, 23 offices are servicing the local market. The company won four of the top awards in the Euromoney Survey 2017, 2018 and 2020 in the categories of Overall, Agency Letting/Sales, Valuation and Research in China. In 2021, the firm had revenue of $9.4 billion across core services of property, facilities and project management, leasing, capital markets, valuation, and other services. To learn more, visit .hk or follow us on LinkedIn ().

Bybit Launchpool is Introducing Monopoly Millionaire Game

DENVER, US – Media OutReach – 28 July 2022 – Bybit, one of the world’s fastest growing crypto exchanges, is listing MMC, the main platform token of Monopoly Millionaire Game, on the Bybit Launchpool.

The Monopoly Millionaire Game is a marine-themed game where players can earn tokens through nine different exciting games.

As the game’s governance token, MMC can be used in the governance process via voting and staking. Users can also use it to purchase and upgrade their NFTs to get a higher “cannon star-level” and earn greater rewards. A total of 100 million MMC tokens are available, which will be allocated to the treasury, liquidity pools, investors, team, and IEO.

Users can earn MMC tokens both by playing the game and by staking them through Bybit Launchpool. Bybit Launchpool is a component of Bybit Earn, where users can stake and earn tokens at attractive APYs for free. Users can stake and unstake tokens anytime, and earn fees on their staked currency. They can also earn bonuses in Tether (USDT).

The Monopoly Millionaire Game was created by a group of individuals with extensive game development experience at well-known internet companies. It recently completed its seed funding round and raised $1 million. The round, led by Mirana Ventures, helped the Monopoly Millionaire Game surpass the $10 million mark in market value.

Hashtag: #Bybit

About Bybit

Bybit is a cryptocurrency exchange established in March 2018 that offers a professional platform where crypto traders can find an ultra-fast matching engine, excellent customer service and multilingual community support. Bybit is a proud partner of Formula One racing team, Oracle Red Bull Racing, esports teams NAVI, Astralis, Alliance, Virtus.pro and Oracle Red Bull Racing Esports, and association football (soccer) teams Borussia Dortmund and Avispa Fukuoka.

For more information please visit:

For updates, please follow Bybit’s social media platforms on









‘Chen Zhi Scholarship’ flagship programme of Prince Foundation, bags the prestigious Asia Responsible Enterprise Award (AREA)

PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA – Media OutReach – 28 July 2022 – For the second year in a row, social empowerment continues to be at the heart of Prince Foundation when it bags the Asia Responsible Enterprise Award (AREA) 2022 organized by Enterprise Asia, a non-governmental organization that recognizes entrepreneurship across the region.

Students during Chen Zhi Scholarship's Final Interview.

Students during Chen Zhi Scholarship’s Final Interview.

Awarded in the Social Empowerment Category through its flagship scholarship programme – the Chen Zhi Scholarship initiative, the achievement reflected Prince Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Prince Holding Group’s ongoing efforts in bolstering human capital in Cambodia.

Chen Zhi, Chairman of Prince Holding Group, and H.E. Dr. Hang Chuon Naron, Cambodia’s Minister of Education Youth and Sports during MoU signing ceremony.

Chen Zhi, Chairman of Prince Holding Group, and H.E. Dr. Hang Chuon Naron, Cambodia’s Minister of Education Youth and Sports during MoU signing ceremony.

Key Facts on the Chen Zhi Scholarship:
1. Total investment of US$2 million for 400 eligible students across seven years.
2. Covers full tuition fees, monthly stipends, internship, and employment opportunities.
3. Awarded 100 scholars this year, selected from 1,500 applicants.

With a keen focus on education and youth development, the Chen Zhi Scholarship is the key initiative among numerous projects by Prince Holding Group to support capacity building through education.

According to Gabriel Tan, Chief Communications Officer of Prince Holding Group, the scholarship programme is part of the Group’s vision of advancing the Kingdom’s human capital capabilities through public-private partnerships.

“The inception of the Chen Zhi scholarship comes about due to our Chairman’s belief in the power of education to elevate and empower communities. We are honored and humbled that our CSR initiatives continue to receive recognition as we play our part towards building a better future for Cambodia,” said Gabriel Tan.

Prince Foundation is committed to three pillars: Education and Youth Empowerment, Healthcare, and Community Engagement. Over six years, the Foundation has donated over US$14 million, benefitting the lives of more than half a million Cambodians.

Hashtag: #PrinceHoldingGroup

About Prince Holding Group:

Prince Holding Group is one of Cambodia’s largest business groups spanning across real estate development, financial services and consumer services.

Prince Holding Group’s key business units in Cambodia include Prince Real Estate Group, Prince Huan Yu Real Estate Group, Prince Bank, Cambodia Airways, Belt Road Capital Management, as well as Awesome Global Investment Group. Via its subsidiaries, Prince Holding Group has over 80 businesses in Cambodia operating in real estate development, banking, finance, aviation, tourism, logistics, technology, food and beverages, and lifestyle sectors etc.

Leveraging a network of industrial, business and financial professionals across Asia, Prince Holding Group is firmly committed to the long-term development of Cambodia. Prince Holding Group is developing an almost 1000-hectare township project in the Ream coastline of Sihanoukville that will be one of Cambodia’s leading sustainable real estate developments, aiming to secure close to $16 billion in total investment for the region.

Moving forward, Prince Holding Group will continue to seek out opportunities to play an important role in Cambodia, through partnerships or direct investments into key industries for the betterment of Cambodians and the local economy.

About Prince Foundation
Prince Foundation, founded in 2015, is one of Cambodia’s leading philanthropic foundations. A member of Prince Holding Group, which is one of the largest business groups in Cambodia, the Foundation aims to work with local communities to build thriving living and working environments that elevate people’s well-being and livelihoods following the vision: “Together, Building a Better Future for Cambodia”.

Focusing on education and youth development, healthcare, and community engagement initiatives, Prince Foundation works with partners to deliver sustainable programs that enhance opportunities for Cambodia’s youths, build resilience in communities and contributes to sustainable infrastructure.

The Foundation’s flagship projects are the Chen Zhi Scholarship, offering full scholarships, stipends, internship and work opportunities to 400 Cambodian university students over a period of seven years, and Prince Horology, where aspiring Cambodian watchmakers learn the art of Swiss-style watchmaking in a state-of-the-art facility. Prince Foundation has launched more than 250 philanthropic initiatives, benefiting over 500,000 people, with donations exceeding US$14 million.

Obsolete System, Corruption Delay Land Title Registration

The Head of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment commented on the delay of land registration during the 2nd National Assembly Session on 22 July. 

DYXnet SD-WAN Solution has obtained the “SD-WAN Ready 2.0” Certificate

HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach – 28 July 2022 – The China Communications Standards Association’s Computing and Network Integration Industry and Standards Promotion Committee has recently announced a new batch of “SD-WAN Ready 2.0 Test and Evaluation” results at the “SD-WAN Technology Salon and SD-WAN Ready Evaluation Results Conference 2022”. After a list of rigorous testing and evaluations, the SD-WAN solutions of DYXnet, a member of NEOLINK, is able to showcase its high-quality network products and service capabilities that fulfill the industry standard.

“SD-WAN Ready 2.0” Certificate

The “SD-WAN Ready 2.0” test, is one of the most authoritative SD-WAN standards and certification programs developed by CAICT and partners from the ecosystem, which aims to promote and align the development of the SD-WAN industry through standardization and normalization of SD-WAN products and services, and covering SASE, Zero Trust, IPv6+ and many more aspects.

The evaluation covered multiple aspects of the solution including: service deployment, load balancing, service security, application strategy, fault detection capability, data transmission latency, data transmission speed, etc. DYXnet SD-WAN solution has successfully passed all 19 items in the “SD-WAN Ready 2.0” test requirement, which indicates the quality and technical capabilities are above SD-WAN’s industrial standards and technical norm.

With more than 20 years of solid experience in enterprise network service, DYXnet has integrated its own technology development capabilities and rich pool of resources to develop the DYXnet SD-WAN solution. It supports customers in different business use cases, allowing them to experience high quality, reliable and secure enterprise network services. DYXnet is committed to continuously expand its solution capacity, drive innovations and strengthen network deployment in offering diversified solutions, laying a solid foundation for businesses to accelerate their digital transformation journey.

Hashtag: #DYXnet

About DYXnet

DYXnet, a wholly-owned subsidiary of VNET Group (NASDAQ: VNET), is a leading carrier-neutral network service provider in Greater China with over 20 years of solid experience. As a NASDAQ-listed company and leading carrier-neutral Internet data center and hybrid cloud services provider in China, VNET has gone further by forming a new sub-brand “NEOLINK” in April 2021, which integrated its New Retailing Unit with DYXnet in providing a suite of diverse solutions for customers in achieving full-cycle digital transformation. We work towards a common goal of delivering innovative solutions with the foresight to identify the evolving needs of our customers and communities.

DYXnet has empowered enterprises to drive business growth with ICT innovations and is committed to provide solutions for our customers through disruptive technologies and services including enterprise network solutions like MPLS and SD-WAN, cloud solutions and data centre services.

We strive to strengthen our dominant position in Hong Kong and the Asia Pacific region. Among the first ICT service providers in the region to have obtained ISO certifications including ISO/IEC 27001, ISO/IEC 20000 1, and ISO 9001, we are also one of the first official members of the China Cross border Data Telecommunications Industry Alliance and one of the first SD-WAN service standard drafting units.

For more information about DYXnet, please visit .

Mekong and U.S. Strengthen Partnership for Sustainable Water Management

Major General Diana M. Holland, Mississippi River Commission President and Mississippi Valley Division Commander.

Op-Ed (Coordinated by U.S. Embassy Vientiane, Lao PDR)

By: Major General Diana M. Holland, Mississippi River Commission President and Mississippi Valley Division Commander 

Water is life. The need for this resource is universal, yet access to water is not guaranteed in many parts of the world. Together, the world faces new and evolving challenges.

Climate change—and it’s anticipated effects like prolonged droughts, changing weather patterns, and food insecurity—will create new barriers for vulnerable and at-risk communities to access clean drinking water and sufficient food sources. It is essential that we work together, across national and regional boundaries, to confront these emerging challenges. We all share a responsibility to protect and sustainably use our global natural resources to ensure they last.

One component of the Sister River Partnership is to facilitate reciprocal visits for representatives from the United States to travel to see the Mekong River and representatives from the Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, and the Mekong River Commission Secretariat to travel to see the Mississippi River.

These in-person exchanges highlight the enduring friendship and partnership between the two river commissions, and enable us to better understand the challenges impacting riparian communities in both locations. Most of all these in-person visits afford us the opportunity to learn first-hand from each other on best practices and lessons learned to protect our waterways.

My team and I recently had the opportunity to visit Laos, and we were thoroughly impressed by the grandness of the mighty Mekong. The river’s sheer importance to the community and the Lao way of life is immediately obvious and reminded us of our home along the Mississippi River.

During our time in Laos, we had the fortune of visiting the Mekong River in Vientiane, Luang Prabang, and Xayaboury, and we met with senior representatives from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the Ministry of Energy and Mines, and the Mekong River Commission Secretariat headquartered in Vientiane.

My team and I observed immense dedication from the Lao People’s Democratic Republic to protect the Mekong River for generations to come.

I look forward to continued collaboration with the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, and I eagerly await the opportunity to warmly welcome representatives from the Lao PDR to visit the Mississippi River for the next Sister Rivers Partnership exchange.

Appointment of Laurent Boisdron as Vice President & General Manager of Lanson Place Mall of Asia, Manila, The Philippines

HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach – 28 July 2022 – Lanson Place Personal Hotels and Residences (Lanson Place) is pleased to announce the appointment of Laurent Boisdron as Vice President & General Manager of Lanson Place Mall of Asia, Manila, The Philippines.

GM-Laurent.jpg

Laurent has over 29 years of hotel management experience in the USA, Philippines, France, Spain, Belgium and United Arab Emirates. Before joining Lanson Place, Laurent spearheaded the pre-opening and opening teams of Sable Navy Pier, Curio Collection by Hilton as the General Manager in Chicago, Illinois. Prior to that, he was General Manager of SM Hotels and Conventions Corp. (SMHCC)’s luxury property, Conrad Manila from 2018 to 2020.

Laurent’s work has been highly recognized throughout the years, as validated by his numerous awards: 2021 Hotel Management’s GMs To Watch (USA), 2019 CMO Asia Award for one of the Best General Managers in the Philippines, 2017 Asia Pacific Hotel of the Year Award (Radisson Blu Cebu), and the 2015 President’s Award for outstanding quality for Radisson North America, among others.

Commenting on this appointment, Michael Hobson, Chief Executive Officer of Lanson Place said “We are thrilled to bring Laurent on board with his extensive hotel management experience in both The Philippines and around the world as Lanson Place makes its first foray in the country. Under his strong leadership, Laurent will assemble and lead the team to position this magnificent 390 key property in one of Manila’s most exciting business and entertainment hubs, and introduce the Lanson Place brand to the community.”

Scheduled to open in 2023, Lanson Place Mall of Asia, the first Lanson Place property in The Philippines located in the heart of SM Mall of Asia, will feature a 247-room hotel and 143-room serviced suites, providing guests with direct access to extensive retail, food and beverage and entertainment facilities. Lanson Place Mall of Asia is in close proximity to the flagship SMX Convention Center Manila as well as the iconic eCom office buildings, making it ideal not only for leisure guests but for business travellers and MICE delegates as well.

Hashtag: #LansonPlace

About Lanson Place Hospitality Management Limited

Lanson Place is a wholly owned subsidiary of Wing Tai Properties Limited (Wing Tai), a publicly listed company in Hong Kong (HKEx stock code: 369). Wing Tai currently manages 7 properties (in which Wing Tai has equity in two) under the Lanson Place brand, comprising luxury Personal Hotels and Residences in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, as well as two upcoming properties in Manila and Melbourne (to be opened in 2023).

Lanson Place provides comfortable, personal sanctuaries for extended stay guests at central locations in major global cities. Infused by a family-like service tradition, Lanson Place creates warm and sheltered places with a club-like feel where communities form and bond. Guests can enjoy a home-away-from-home experience.

The Group aims to grow the Lanson Place brand across the Asia-Pacific region and continues to explore both investment and management opportunities in major gateway cities.