Singapore APEC Study Centre Seminar: Growth in a Challenging and Diverse Landscape: Asia and the Pacific

ISEAS and the Singapore APEC Study Centre organised a seminar on “Growth in a Challenging and Diverse Landscape: Asia and the Pacific” on Thursday, 18 June 2015.

(From left) Dr Denis Hew, Director, APEC Policy Support (PSU), APEC Secretariat Singapore; Dr Allan Bollard, Executive Director, APEC Secretariat Singapore; Dr Cassey Lee, ISEAS Senior Fellow (Moderator) and Mr Eduardo Pedrosa, Secretary General, PECC International Secretariat Singapore.

ISEAS and the Singapore APEC Study Centre organised a seminar on “Growth in a Challenging and Diverse Landscape: Asia and the Pacific” on Thursday, 18 June 2015.

In May 2015, APEC Officials met in Boracay to discuss issues ranging from trade, investment, and connectivity to domestic economic reforms. The officials also reviewed the progress towards the Bogor Goals, discussed the strategic study of the Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific (FTAAP), and considered the information sharing mechanism of regional RTAs to build stakeholder support.

In addition, it was also noted that the global economy was still struggling to gain momentum. APEC economies, as a whole, grew by 2.9 percent in 2014, compared with the world GDP growth of 3.4 percent, amid uncertainties in oil prices and the timing of monetary normalization in the United States.

Participants at the seminar

Given the above, the seminar addressed the following concerns:
    • What are the key outcomes from the Boracay APEC Meetings?
    • What are some of the challenges for the APEC economies towards enhancing regional economic integration and the FTAAP?
    • What are some of the key trade policy concerns of regional opinion-leaders as detailed in the PECC State of Trade in the Region 2015?
    • How will the APEC economies perform in the light of increased global uncertainties in 2015 and 2016? What are some of the underlying risks for Southeast Asian economies?

Dr Allan Bollard
, Executive Director, APEC Secretariat Singapore; Mr Eduardo Pedrosa, Secretary General, PECC International Secretariat; and Dr Denis Hew, Director, APEC Policy Support (PSU), APEC Secretariat Singapore; discussed factors that would affect global and regional growth in the year ahead.

Click here for more photos of the event.