Building The Future – Where Construction Meets Sustainability, Innovation & Finance : Opening Ceremony

Prof. Ling Kar-kan is a professional town planner. He was the Director of Planning of the HKSAR Government (2012-2016), President of the Hong Kong Institute of Planners (2007-2009), Director of the Hong Kong Cyberport Management Company Limited (2017-2023) and Chairman of the Country and Marine Parks Board (2019-2025). He was awarded the Silver Bauhinia Star and InnoStars Award 2021. He served HKSAR Government as the Strategic Planning Advisor for Hong Kong/Shenzhen Cooperation (June 2021 – February 2022) for the formulation of the Northern Metropolis Development Strategy.

He is now Interim Vice President (Campus Development and Facilities) and Director of Jockey Club Design Institute for Social Innovation of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU). He serves the community as the Chairman of the Hong Kong Housing Society. He is appointed as a member of the Historic Buildings Assessment Panel of the Development Bureau, and a member of the Board of Trustees of Chung Chi College of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). He is also Adjunct Professor of the University of Hong Kong and CUHK, Professor of Practice (Planning) of PolyU, and Associate Fellow of the University of the Built Environment, UK.

Prof. Ling is also appointed as an expert member of a number of planning and development related consultation committees for Shenzhen, Nansha, Hengqin and Qianhai in the Mainland China.

Mr. Bertrand Lortholary became Ambassador of France to China in March 2023.

Bertrand Lortholary joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs after graduating from the Institute of Political Science (Sciences-Po) in Paris, the University of Paris-Dauphine, the National Institute of Oriental Languages and Civilizations (INALCO, studying Chinese), and from the National School of Administration (ENA, in the 1997 “Marc Bloch” graduation year).

He began his career at the Quai d’Orsay as a member of the Directorate for Africa and the Indian Ocean, where he mainly covered the conflict in the Great Lakes region in Central Africa. He later joined the Political Affairs General Director’s staff from 1998 to 2001. His career led him, first to Washington, as an exchange diplomat at the State Department, then at the French Embassy, where he covered Asian and African political issues, between 2002 and 2005. After Washington, he served as senior counsellor for political affairs at the French Embassy in China from 2005 to 2008. From 2008 to 2012, Bertrand Lortholary served as senior advisor for Asian and Pacific affairs to the President of the French Republic.

He was appointed Consul General of France in New York in 2012 and completed his mission in the United States in August 2016. He then served as French Ambassador to Vietnam from 2016 to 2019. Before taking up his position as director for Asia and Oceania in October 2020, Bertrand Lortholary served as chief diplomatic advisor to the Prime Minister of the French Republic.