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As the northern hemisphere enjoys summer and hopefully some well-earned holidays, the Asian Pacific Region possibly stands alone as being frenetic in its activity, regardless of the time of year.

Despite the changes in the Chinese tax system recently, continued investment in this region, in particular China, Vietnam, Cambodia and India keeps pouring in. The economies of these countries, from a growth perspective, continue to outstrip most other economies in the world.

South Korea can also not be ignored as its growth is rampant. Interestingly, the property development sector within this country has been so intense, Korean nationals are becoming hungrier than ever for more property and are increasingly looking abroad, in particular to Australia. The globalisation of property funds has been extreme for this sector as is the case for most other regions.

Pleasingly, we are seeing a number of applicants in this region keen to find out more about the benefits of being in AGN. We have recently held our AGN Asia-Pacific Conference which was well received and served to further cement the relationships between firms that should not only assist this region but the rest of the world through identifying strengths and know-how in numerous countries.

I can confidently say that AGN is a thriving force in this region and considerable projects are underway. We are striving to improve the communication and the deliverables for AGN generally and would welcome your feedback as to what information and processes you would like us to incorporate or expand upon.

It may come as no surprise that the resources boom in the Asia-Pacific region generally, with China and many of the other countries named above, with  their increasing appetite for resources, and a manner of other services has increased the need to finesse intra-regional transactions. It is not just big business that is successfully doing business in this region. Many smaller enterprises are, with the appropriate support and guidance, reporting very successful outcomes for doing business in this region.

We have seen a number of success stories which are in no small way a credit to the AGN members and I welcome talking to any of you about the region further. I look forward to seeing you in Amsterdam.

Kind Regards

David Kenney
Chairman, Asia Pacific Region
Hall Chadwick
Sydney, Australia
dkenney@hallchadwick.com.au