On May 22, 2015 the Swedish Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong (SwedCham Hong Kong) held its Annual General Meeting and elected a new Board.
The new SwedCham Board is as follows:
Chairman: Ohrling, Ulf (Resident Partner Mannheimer Swartling Hong Kong)
Vice Chairmen:
Bergström, Paul (President, Hong Kong and Macau Ericsson)
Hirn, Karine (Founding Partner, East Capital)
Directors:
Bjennmyr, Jimmy (Head of Corporate Banking Handelsbanken International
Gardner, Emma (Management Consulting KPMG)
Ivarsson, Katarina (Founder Boris Design Studio)
Karlsson, Pontus (Co-Founder and Director Happy Rabbit)
Lindvall, Patrik (General Manager The Dairy Farm Company, Ltd. – IKEA)
Ågren, Per (Regional Director, Business Development APC Asia Pacific Cargo ( HK) Ltd)
The Board of SwedCham Hong Kong is currently and actively carrying out lobbying work in different and important areas, and appreciates the support from members.
The possibility of an increased number of pages in the Swedish passports
A majority of SwedCham’s member companies have frequent travelers to China and around the Asia region. Immigration stamps fill the 32 passport pages too quickly and thereby causing a lot of problems for these companies and individuals. Therefore it would be highly recommended that a business passport with at least the double number of pages.
A comprehensive double taxation agreement (CDTA) between Hong Kong and Sweden
SwedCham is supporting a tax treaty between the two countries, in contrast to entering into an information exchange agreement only. Hong Kong has indicated its willingness to negotiate and enter into such an agreement, but Sweden, in contrast to a number of other European countries has so far shown no interest.The reply obtained so far states that Sweden is not giving this priority and blames lack of resources! The issue is ongoing, and the Board is lobbying all possible channels in Sweden.
Environmental Infrastructure Projects
SwedCham has presented its views to the Legislative Council in relation to a series of infrastructure projects proposed by the government, i.e. extensions of three existing landfills (Northeast New Territories, Southeast New Territories and West New Territories) (The “Landfill Extensions”) and the so called Integrated Waste Management Facilities Phase 1 (“IWMF”).
Source: Swedcham Hong Kong
Photographer: Jayne Russell
