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WASHINGTON–The Leadership & Business Conference, hosted in this capital by the International Leadership Foundation (ILF) and the Coalition of Asian American Business Organizations (CAABO), attracted 150 participants, including ILF Young Ambassadors, local and out-of-state CEOs, and business organization leaders.

ILF Executive Officer Chiling Tong said, “I’m thrilled with the turn-out and the quality of our speakers and panelists.” Participants at the event, held on July 22 at the Capital Hilton here, heard from top government officials, business executives and experts, and also attended business-to-government networking sessions.

An Awards Gala capped the all-day event, with Senator Daniel K. Inouye as keynote speaker. Panel discussions focused on U.S.-Asia Global Strategic Alliance and Promoting Small and Medium Enterprises.

U.S. Treasury official David Loevinger, the keynote speaker, spoke of the differences in the corporate cultures of China and the U.S, as well as similarities. He said, “We both want an open global trading system, where institutions like the IMF, G-20 and the WTO have the right tools” to promote sustainable growth between the U.S. and China.

He was referring to the International Monetary Fund, the group of developed nations and the World Trade Organizations. Loevinger is the senior coordinator and executive secretary for China Affairs and the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue. He urged China to engage in financial and social services reforms, and also in liberalizing the services sector, because it is labor-intensive.

Profitable Sectors

Panelist Derek Scissors, Research Fellow at the Heritage Foundation Asian Studies Center, spoke on the challenges facing China, India and the U.S.

He said sectors “that will still do good regardless of policy” are agriculture, with China trying to buy lands in other countries; labor shift, with U.S. auto products to China and India; U.S. bond market and insurance; energy and infrastructure.

Panelist Sanjay Puri, Optimos, Inc. Chairman and CEO, said, “There are huge opportunities that exist for all of us.” He added opportunities abound in Information Technology, “now a $50-billion industry” in India, and with consumers such as “600 million people below age 25” in India eager to gobble up products from I-pods to Levi jeans.

CAABO President Wallace K. Tsuha, Jr. said team work was the “most critical to the success” of any endeavor. “In building a nationwide network of Asian chambers of commerce and Asian businesses, we increase our available resources for members and our voice becomes stronger.”

The moderator on the strategic alliance panel was Ira Kasoff, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Asia at International Trade Administration, Department of Commerce. The panelists were Scissors, Puri and William Overholt, Senior Research Fellow at Harvard University Kennedy School of Government.

The keynote speaker on the second panel was Alejandra Castillo, Deputy Director of the Minority Business Development Agency, Department of Commerce. CAABO President Tsuha was the moderator. The panelists were Sherry Hwang, President and Co-Founder of Pyramid Systems, Inc.; Dickson Lee, Chairman & CEO of L&L Energy, Inc.; and James Whang, Founder and Chairman, AEPLOG, Inc.

Christopher P. Davies was the speaker at the luncheon conference. Davies is senior executive vice president and head of Commercial Banking in North America for HSBC Bank. Stephanie Cheng, executive director of the Chinatown Community and Cultural Center, was the emcee.

Sherman Worldwide Managing Director Rudy Pamintuan was an excellent conference emcee, witty and unflappable. Among the ILF interns was Chu Ling Zhang, an accounting major in Mississippi State University, who said in an interview being an ILF Young Ambassador has made her determined “not just to be good, but to excel.” She plans to be a math teacher in Beijng, as well as in New York or Chicago. Another was Taiwan Air Force Communications Officer Daren Yeh who said, “I’m lucky to have been selected as a Young Ambassador.”

ILF head Tong said the ILF-CAABO conference’s objectives were the growth of member businesses and the development of future leaders. Paul Hsu, Hsu Enterprise Group LLC chairman, called the team-up “a perfect, perfect match-up.”