Business leaders call for cooperation, inclusiveness

Despite geopolitical tensions and trade disruptions, it is important for the world to continue emphasizing cooperation and inclusiveness to pursue the common good, a forum in Hong Kong heard on Friday.

"We should all be working into a world that creates a bigger pie for everyone so that we will all benefit from it," said Philippine businessman Jaime Zobel de Ayala at the AsiaGlobal Dialogue 2025 forum hosted by the Asia Global Institute, or AGI, of The University of Hong Kong.

Though Asia has been the center of growth for years, the region has found itself moving away from a pattern of trade on which it has been reliant, said Zobel de Ayala, chairman of the Ayala Corporation, one of the oldest and largest business groups in the Philippines.

"All of this has been abandoned under this 'tariff war' where rules are unclear," said Zobel de Ayala, who was speaking at a panel session titled "Resilience and Geopolitics: A Decade of Shifting Dynamics".

He added that he hopes some sanity will be regained to bring back the interconnectivity, coordination, and cooperation seen in the past and build together a community of nations.

Speaking on Indonesia's entry into the BRICS economic grouping, Cherie Nursalim, vice-chair of Giti Group, a diversified business conglomerate founded in Singapore in the 1930s, said Indonesia has always believed in working together across all sectors and with all partners.

She said that, as part of the international platform, Indonesia can play a role in addressing global issues such as climate change and resource scarcity, and promoting cooperation among developing nations.

"I think we are all part of the system," said Nursalim. "Perhaps we have moved too much toward the 'ego-system'," Nursalim said, referring to an economic model that prioritizes narrow self-interest. "But we want to move from that 'ego-system' to an ecosystem where we understand one another and live in harmony."

Noting that India has benefited from globalization, with strong growth averaging 6.5 percent over the past 20 years, Suman Bery, vicechairman of NITI Aayog, a major Indian government policy think tank, said the country has faced a different challenge in recent years.

Bery said that India's paradox, given the world is less interconnected than in past decades, is how to increase its growth rate to 8 percent or even higher to achieve its goal of becoming a developed country by 2047.

"We cannot do that without further kind of global integration on all three fronts — trade, finance, and labor," said Bery.

Introducing his vision for "public interest capitalism", George Hara, group chairman and CEO of global venture capital firm DEFTA Partners, said it is important to balance economic growth with societal benefits to build resilient, sustainable growth.

Using the operation of a company as an example, Hara said there should be rules for distributing profits among all members who contributed to the success of the business, rather than just shareholders.

"We have to create some kind of new public governance to allocate a certain percentage of profit to invest … and create an ecosystem to sustain … entrepreneurship in society," said Hara, who was a special adviser to former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe for eight years.

"We are navigating complexities in the world and we are also building the future," said Barbara Meynert, an AGI advisory board member and moderator of the panel session.

kelly@chinadailyapac.com