APEC in 2017 and Beyond: Striving for Open Economies and Delivering on Inclusive Growth

SINGAPORE APEC STUDY CENTRE SEMINAR

 

About the Seminar

Vietnam, the Chair of APEC 2017, convened the final round of meetings with the Leaders of another twenty economies on 11 November 2017. Following the overarching theme of ‘Creating New Dynamism, Fostering a Shared Future’, the meeting provided economic and strategic narratives on important trade related developments in the region.

For this year, APEC Leaders have urged for further progress in advancing the Lima Declaration on FTAAP and developing multi-year work programs to further enhance APEC economies’ ability to participate in high quality and comprehensive free trade agreement negotiations. The APEC Leaders also reiterated their commitment to achieve the Bogor Goals which targets to achieve free trade among the member economies by 2020.

What were some of the main issues discussed during the APEC Year 2017? How will developments in the digital economy promote innovative development and empower economic participation in APEC? How will such issues impact Southeast Asia? What is the business outlook for 2018? What does the Chairmanship by Papua New Guinea hold for APEC in 2018?

To discuss these issues and more, this seminar will bring together policymakers and experts to discuss the success and challenges of Vietnam’s chairmanship of APEC in 2017, and what they mean for the region. The seminar will also include a presentation on the ‘State of the Region’, an annual PECC publication which will highlight some the challenges facing Asia-Pacific economies in spite of improvements in the world’s major economies. The seminar will importantly provide a glimpse of the upcoming 2018 APEC Chairmanship by Papua New Guinea.

About the Speakers

Topic: What We Should Take Away from the Da Nang APEC Economic Leaders’ Summit

Alan Bollard is the Executive Director of the APEC Secretariat based in Singapore, the body that promotes trade, investment and sustainable economic growth in the Asia-Pacific. Dr Bollard advances APEC’s agenda by executing APEC’s work programmes as mandated by Leaders and Ministers.

Prior to joining APEC, Dr Bollard was the Governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand from 2002 to 2012. In that position, he was responsible for monetary policy and bank regulations, helping steer New Zealand through the global financial crisis.

From 1998 to 2002, Dr Bollard was the Secretary to the New Zealand Treasury. As the government’s principal economic adviser, he managed the Crown’s finances and helped guide economic policy. He has served as New Zealand’s Alternate Governor to the International Monetary Fund, the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank. From 1994-2008, he was the Chairman of the New Zealand Commerce Commission. Prior to this from 1987 to 1994 he was Director of the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research.

Dr Bollard has a PhD in Economics from the University of Auckland. He has since been awarded several honorary doctorate degrees. In 2012 he was honoured as a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit.

Topic: 2018 PNG APEC Policy Priorities

Ivan Pomaleu commenced his career with the Papua New Guinea (PNG) government in 1990 with the then Department of Finance and Planning. He then moved to the National Planning Office where his focus was in the renewable resources sector, principally in agriculture, forestry and fisheries policy, planning and budgeting. He joined the Investment Promotion Authority for the next twenty years and was involved in several roles including board and corporate affairs, foreign certification and provincial liaison for the first five years.

He then became the Managing Director of the Investment Promotion Authority (IPA), until September 2016. During that time he concurrently held positions as the Registrar of Companies and Chairman of the Securities Commission of Papua New Guinea. While serving as the Managing Director of the IPA he was simultaneously appointed as PNG’s Senior Official to APEC in 2012, and later PNGs APEC Ambassador on 05 October 2015, a position he holds currently.

Ambassador Pomaleu chaired the Committee on APEC Policy Issues, a domestic committee designed to prepare the APEC agenda for the APEC Papua New Guinea Year in 2018. In 2017, he assumed the Chair of the SOM Steering Committee on Ecotech, which is one of four main committees under the APEC configuration, and will Chair the APEC Senior Officials Committee, commonly known as the SOM Chair for 2018. He holds an undergraduate qualification in science from UPNG and a post graduate degree in business administration (international business) from Deakin University – Australia.

Topic: State of the Region 2017-2018

Eduardo Pedrosa is the Secretary General of the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council. Mr Pedrosa first joined PECC as its Director (Policy Program) in 2001 where his responsibilities included the management and coordination of the Council’s research program.

He co-edited An APEC Trade Agenda: The Political Economy of a Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific and “Towards Balanced and Sustainable Growth Strategies for Post Crisis Asia”. He has written a number of articles including Towards an ASEAN Economic Community: Matching the Hardware with the Operating System and Implications of an Uncertain Global Economy on Integration Initiatives.

Before moving to Singapore, he was the coordinator of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung’s Southeast Asia cooperation program based in Manila and also the co-editor of its journal on regional economics and politics. He has also worked for the Economist Intelligence Unit. He is a graduate of the London School of Economics.

Registration
For registration, please fill in this form and email to iseasevents3@iseas.edu.sg by 8 December 2017.

Date

Dec 11 2017
Expired!

Time

10:00 am - 12:00 pm

Location

ISEAS Seminar Room 2