HPAIR 2007 Sponsors

DaimlerChrysler is one of the leading automotive companies worldwide. Its passenger car brands include Maybach, Mercedes-Benz, Chrysler, Jeep(R), Dodge and smart. Its commercial vehicle brands include Mercedes-Benz, Freightliner, Sterling, Setra and Western Star. DaimlerChrysler Services provides financial and automotive related services. DaimlerChrysler has production facilities in 17 countries and sells its products in more than 200 countries.

Corporate headquarters in Stuttgart-Moehringen, Germany, and Auburn Hills, U.S.A. Locations and business units in more than 170 countries throughout the world.

Cathay Pacific Airways is an international airline registered and based in Hong Kong, offering scheduled cargo and passenger services to over 90 destinations around the world.

We are deeply committed to Hong Kong, where the Company was founded in 1946. We continue to make substantial investments to develop Hong Kong's aviation industry and enhance Hong Kong's position as a regional transportation hub. In addition to our fleet of aircraft, these investments include catering, aircraft maintenance and ground handling companies, as well as our corporate headquarters at Hong Kong International Airport. Cathay Pacific and its subsidiaries and associates employ 21,000 staff in Hong Kong. The airline's two major shareholders are both Hong Kong companies listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, as is Cathay Pacific itself.

Cathay Pacific is the major shareholder in AHK Air Hong Kong Limited, an all cargo carrier that offers scheduled services in the Asia region, and is a shareholder in Hong Kong Dragon Airlines Limited.

We are also a founding member of the oneworld global alliance whose combined networld serves over 570 destinations worldwide.

The Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB), a Government-subvented body, was founded on 1 April 2001 under the HKTB Ordinance. It was reconstituted from and replaced the Hong Kong Tourist Association (HKTA), which was established by Government Ordinance in 1957. Unlike the former HKTA, however, which was an association of members, the HKTB has no affiliation to any specific sector or organisation within the industry and is able to support the interests of Hong Kong's tourism in its entirety.

The primary responsibilities of the HKTB are to market and promote Hong Kong as a destination worldwide, as well as to take initiatives to enhance the experiences of its visitors once they have arrived. This includes making recommendations to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) Government and other relevant bodies on the range and quality of visitor facilities.

The HKTB's mission is to maximise the social and economic contribution that tourism makes to the community of Hong Kong, and to consolidate Hong Kong's position as a unique, world class and most desired destination.

An alliance for all the right reasons

In 1997, a group of five world-class airlines got together to create something never seen before - an alliance that brought together networks, lounge access, check-in services, ticketing and dozens of other services to improve the travel experience for customers and efficiencies for the carriers. They called it the Star Alliance network.

By 2006 the alliance had grown to 18 members and three smaller, regional members with two other international carriers in China scheduled to join in 2007.

A large network of carriers means more choices for customers. Our alliance members fly to more destinations than the competition. And that equates to easier travel and quicker connections. The main goal has always been to make the travel experience smoother for customers. That means doing things such as locating the member carriers closer together in airports, introducing new technologies, building common facilities at airports, coordinating schedules and installing connection teams for faster transfers of passengers and baggage. A multitude of other initiatives has been implemented and more are in the works.

The brand - including the familiar star-shaped logo - represents the promise that the alliance strives to deliver, and it lets the customer know that wherever they are in the world, the alliance is there to help them enjoy a smooth travel experience.

Sohu.com Inc. (NASDAQ: SOHU) is China's premier online brand and indispensable to the daily life of millions of Chinese, providing a network of web properties and community based/web 2.0 products which offer the vast Sohu user community a broad array of choices regarding information, entertainment and communication. Sohu has built one of the most comprehensive matrices of Chinese language web properties and proprietary search engines, consisting of seven leading web properties.

The University of Hong Kong, as a pre-eminent international university in Asia, seeks to sustain and enhance its excellence as an institution of higher learning through outstanding teaching and world-class research so as to produce well-rounded graduates with lifelong abilities to provide leadership within the societies they serve.

The Edwin O. Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies at Harvard University supports research on Japan and provides a forum for related academic activities and the exchange of ideas. It seeks to stimulate scholarly and public interest in Japan and Japanese studies at Harvard and around the world.

The Harvard University Asia Center was officially established on July 1, 1997, to reflect Harvard's deep commitment to Asia and the growing connections between Asian nations. The center is an active organization with varied programs focusing on international relations in Asia and comparative studies of Asian countries and regions.

The Fairbank Center was founded in 1955 by Professor John King Fairbank, a leading scholar in modern and contemporary China studies. The Center was originally called the Center for East Asian Research. Under Professor Fairbank's leadership, the Center took an active role in promoting the study of modern and contemporary China from a social science perspective.

The Fairbank Center now sponsors nine ongoing seminars on themes ranging from East Asian art history to Chinese current events, and organizes research projects and major international conferences on a wide variety of scholarly topics. It also provides a forum for regular dialogue between the academic and policy communities in China and the United States. It further supports research by offering hospitality to visiting scholars from all over the world, by awarding a limited but increasing number of postdoctoral fellowships, and by maintaining its own specialized library.