Director - Pacific Basin Economic Council
Director - BRIGHT Hong Kong
Germán Muñoz is the founder and Director of BRIGHT Hong Kong, think-tank that gathers diplomats and professionals with expertise in different areas of knowledge. Its mainfocus is on Humanism as a philosophical and ethical stance that emphasizes the value and agency of human beings.
He was also the Chairman of The Mexican Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, the only Latin-American chamber of commerce in Hong Kong and China.
During his two year tenure (2013 to 2015), Germán Muñoz consolidated the Chamber’s position; increased its membershipand achieved full recognition by the governments of Mexico and Hong Kong. Thanks to his efforts, MEXCHAM became a member of the HKSAR Government’s highly esteemed International Business Committeesince March 2014.
In April 2014, under Mr. Muñoz’s guidance, MEXCHAM entered into a Memorandum of Co-operation with the Pacific Basin Economic Council (PBEC) signifying in an efforton trade and business connections across the Pacific Rim and the active Mexican business community in Hong Kong.
Mr. Muñoz is a graduate lawyer from the oldest Law school in the Americas at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. He is a specialist in Constitutional and Comparative Law and was a member of the Bar Association of Mexico until 1997, when he left his country to live abroad. His work as attorney included legal essays and draft laws in Mexico when he was appointed as legal advisor at the Presidency of the Republic.
He has also continued to be an active journalist since 1977. He is a published author: ¨The Obligation of The State to the Right of Petition¨ (UNAM 1992) and was lead editor on ¨Desde Hong Kong: Poets in Conversation with Octavio Paz, on the occasion of the Nobel Prize winning poet’s centenary¨, (Chameleon Press 2015).
Between 1989 and 1993, Mr. Muñoz served on the staff of the President of Mexico. In 1991 he was responsible for coordinating events at the presidential official residence Los Pinos. During this time, Mr. Muñoz coordinated logistics for several high level events hosted by then Mexican President Carlos Salinas including activities related to the NAFTA negotiations. He arranged, in coordination with military and presidential staff, meetings attended by many political and business leaders including Mr. James Baker, White House Chief of Staff and Mrs. Carla Hills, United States Trade Representative.
Mr. Muñoz was also Chief Advisor of the Head Officer of Energy Policy at the Mexican Ministry of Energy, where he coordinated a team of specialists who organized special agendas across the oil and gas industries for the Minister of Energy. During this time, Mr. Muñoz participated in the renewal of the Pacto de San José, a regional agreement lead by Mexico to ensure the supply of oil to 11 different countries in Central-America and the Caribbean. During that time, Mr. Muñoz also worked as part of the team that organized the summit of Non-OPEC countries in Cancun, Mexico.
Mr. Muñoz has always been an entrepreneur in waiting. He commenced on this path in 2003, starting in Sao Paulo, Brazil. He then moved to Panama to launch several new projects including consulting company Gea Cosmopolitan in 2007, a leading provider of corporate training to expatriates going to, or departing from, Brazil, Mexico, France, Singapore, Germany and the United States. Clients have included leading companies such as JP Morgan, Banco Santander, Nestle, BASF, Natura and Unilever.
Mr. Muñoz studied for a Masters’ degree in History at the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil where he spent three years and he achieved an MBA from the Inter-American University in Panama. He is fluent in Spanish, French, Portuguese and English.