In this webinar, Mr Carlos Kuriyama and Mr Foo Cher How unpacked the outcomes of the recent APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting and their implications for the region in 2024.
SINGAPORE APEC STUDY CENTRE
About the Seminar
The APEC Leaders Meeting held in Lima, Peru, on November 20, 2016, discussed challenges that member economies are facing in terms of achieving a free and open trading environment, the Bogor Goals, the eventual realization of the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP) and regional connectivity among other issues. Donald Trump’s surprise election victory in the United States on an anti-trade sentiment and his marked dislike for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement affirm the growing fears of rising protectionism and its detrimental effects on economic growth and regional economic integration.
How APEC member economies respond to these challenges and what role APEC has to play, as an organisation, will be of vital importance in the future. The worries over these challenges of economic growth and international trade are also reflected in the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council’s (PECC’s) annual survey of the Asia-Pacific region.
To discuss these and more, the seminar will answer the following: What are the key highlights of Peru’s chairmanship of APEC Meetings in 2016? How may APEC position itself as a relevant regional bloc and how will the eventual realization of FTAAP promote regional integration? How is the business community viewing such developments?
About the Speakers
Topic: APEC in Lima – Has Regional Trade and Investment got a Future?
Dr 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. 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. Dr Bollard wrote a best-selling account of the GFC called “Crisis: One Central Bank Governor and the Global Financial Collapse”. He has also published a novel entitled ‘The Rough Mechanical’ and a biography of famous economist Bill Phillips in 2016. 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: State of the Region 2016-2017
Mr Eduardo Pedrosa is the Secretary General of the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council and coordinator of its report on the State of the Region. 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. 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 government of the Philippines and the Economist Intelligence Unit. He is a graduate of the London School of Economics.
He has authored a number of papers including “Towards an ASEAN Economic Community: Matching the Hardware with the Operating System” and “Implications of an Uncertain Global Economy on Integration Initiatives” and was the co-editor of “An APEC Trade Agenda: The Political Economy of a Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific”.
Topic: APEC: Back to the Future
Dr Malcolm Cook is a Senior Fellow at ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore. From 2003 to 2010, he was the inaugural East Asia Program Director at the Lowy Institute in Sydney and then the inaugural Dean of the School of International Studies at Flinders University in Adelaide.
Before that, he was a lecturer at Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines. Malcolm has worked in Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Australia and Singapore.
Topic: What Lies Ahead for Businesses in the New Trading Environment?
Ms Joanne Guo Wei Ling is Assistant Executive Director, Strategy & Development of the Singapore Business Federation (SBF). SBF is the apex business chamber here, that champions the interests of the Singapore business community in the areas of trade, investment and industrial relations. SBF is also the ABAC Singapore Secretariat. SBF represents more than 22,500 companies, as well as the key local and foreign business chambers, located here.
Ms Guo is involved in strategic and corporate planning, research, promoting the interests and engaging the large companies based in Singapore, and FTA and cross-border trade and investment advocacy issues. She heads the ABAC Singapore and B20 Singapore Secretariat. Ms Guo graduated with a Master of Business Administration from INSEAD where she specialised in and topped her class in strategy and finance.
Registration
To register, please fill in this form and email it to iseasevents3@iseas.edu.sg by 5 December 2016.
REGIONAL ECONOMIC STUDIES PROGRAMME
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SINGAPORE APEC STUDY CENTRE
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SINGAPORE APEC STUDY CENTRE
About the Seminar
Multinational enterprises (MNEs) from East Asian countries have significant investments in the Southeast Asia region. The main objective of this seminar is to examine how the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) will affect the operations of these MNEs in both countries that are and are not participating in the TPP. These include East Asian MNEs that originate from both countries that are members of TPP (Japan) as well as non-member region (Taiwan).
TPP and Japanese Manufacturing Affiliates in ASEAN
Dr Kazunobu Hayakawa
Institute of Developing Economies (IDE)
Dr Kazunobu Hayakawa is a senior research fellow of the Inter-disciplinary Studies Center, Institute of Developing Economies (IDE). He was a research associate in Keio University during 2005-2008. He also worked at Bangkok office of Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) during 2011-2015. He received his doctorate from Keio University with a dissertation on intermediate goods trade in 2008. His main research areas are international economics and economic geography. He has published in many journals such as the Journal of Economic Surveys, the Review of World Economics, and the Oxford Economic Papers.
TPP and Taiwanese MNEs in Southeast Asia
Dr Shin-Horng Chen
Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research
Dr Shin-Horng Chen is currently the Director and a research fellow of the International Division at the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER), a leading economic think tank in Taiwan. Apart from full-time research work, Dr Chen has taught EMBA/MBA courses at several universities in Taiwan, including National Taiwan University, National Tsinghua University and National Chiao Tung University. Dr Chen has intensive research experience on the development of the ICT industry, science and technology policy, national innovation system, global production and innovation networks, R&D internationalization. In recent years, he has extended his research fields into China’s industrial development and innovation, technology foresight, and service innovation. He is also an experienced reviewer for a few R&D programs sponsored by the Taiwanese government. For his well-respected work of innovation and policy studies, Dr Chen received Award for Innovation Model Promoter, First National Industry Innovation Award from the Ministry of Economic Affairs in 2011. Out of his policy studies, Dr Chen has generated a number of academic publications in the international academic community. His recent academic publications can be found in a few referred journals, such as Research Policy, Technovation, R&D Management, Industry and Innovation, Asian Journal of Technology Innovation, Working Paper of National Bureau of Economic Research, China Economic Review, China Information, and NTU Management Review. He has also contributed papers to more than twenty editorial books, published by international academic publishers.
Registration
To register, please fill in this form and email to iseasevents3@iseas.edu.sg by 15 September 2016.
REGIONAL ECONOMIC STUDIES PROGRAMME
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SINGAPORE APEC STUDY CENTRE
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SINGAPORE APEC STUDY CENTRE
About the Seminar
The Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) was signed by twelve countries in February 2016. Only four of the ten ASEAN member countries are participating in the TPP. Will the other non-participating ASEAN countries such as the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia be economically disadvantaged from not participating in the TPP? Will TPP affect the trade and investment patterns in these non-TPP ASEAN countries? Should these countries consider joining the TPP in the future given the costs and benefits of doing so? In this seminar, a group of prominent country economists from the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia will reflect on these questions.
TPP: Are We In or Out? Possible Implications for the Philippines
Dr Rafaelita Aldaba
The Philippine Department of Trade & Industry
The TPP countries are important markets for Philippine exports and major sources of imports and investments. This presentation will examine how the TPP could affect a non-member country like the Philippines. The analysis will focus on major findings from existing studies quantifying the trade diversion effects of the TPP on Philippines. It will also present the trade and investment performance and structure of the Philippines and TPP member countries and identify the possible sectors that would most likely be affected. Given the potential losses of remaining outside the TPP, the necessary regulatory and policy reforms to enable the Philippines to successfully participate in the TPP will also be discussed.
Dr Rafaelita Aldaba is currently Assistant Secretary of the Philippine Department of Trade & Industry – Industry Development & Trade Policy Group. Prior to her appointment, she served as Senior Research Fellow and Vice-President of the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS). She has extensive research experience on development issues with focus on industrial policy, regional economic integration, international trade, foreign direct investment, competition policy, and small and medium enterprises.
The Impact of TPP on Thai Economy
Dr Archanun Kohpaiboon and Dr Juthathip Jongwanich
Faculty of Economics, Thammasat University
The presentation discusses the impact of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) on the Thai economy. We review the agreement and highlight the potential gains and losses relevant to Thailand. The former focuses on preferential market access to the US which is the world’s largest economy and yet a country that that has not signed any FTA with Thailand. In the latter, the adverse effect of the TRIPs plus in TPP on pharmaceutical expenditure in Thailand is emphasized. There are other issues covered in TPP that are likely to be either non-binding constraints (e.g. investment agreement) or their impacts unquantifiable given the time and space constraints (e.g. government procurement, environmental agreement). We find that potential gains would be limited on certain product categories of garment export to the US. While there is belief that the TPP and cumulative ROO in particular could alter supply chain of production network, it is unlikely to occur due to a number of exceptions in TPP itself. It is unlikely to compensate the losses in terms of more expensive medicines.
Dr Archanun Kohpaiboon is currently an Associate Professor in the Faculty Economics, Thammasat University, Thailand. He specializes in trade, FDI and industrial development. A well-known economist in Thailand, Dr Kohpaiboon has won numerous research awards including the Best Young Economist in 2006 awarded by a jointing committee of seven Leading Economics Research Institutes in Thailand. He has published extensively in leading peer-reviewed journals such as World Development, Asian Economic Journal and Research Policy. He is currently editor of the Thammasat Economic Journal. Dr Kohpaiboon received his PhD from the Australian National University.
Dr Juthathip Jongwanich is currently Assistant Professor in the Faculty Economics, Thammasat University, Thailand. Her previous appointments include Assistant Professor in the School of Management (SOM) at the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) and Economist at the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in Manila, the Philippines. Her specialization is in International Economics and Managerial Economics. Dr Jongwanich obtained her Ph.D in Economics from the Australian National University, Australia in 2005.
The Trans-Pacific Partnership Challenge: Indonesia’s Economic Cooperation Option
Dr Kiki Verico
The Institute for Economic and Social Research (LPEM)
Faculty of Economics & Business, University of Indonesia (FEB UI)
In October 2015, during President Joko Widodo’s official visit to the USA, his excellency stated that Indonesia ‘intend’ to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) in the future. This presentation attempts to analyse the potential impact of the TPP on Indonesia’s economy – both if Indonesia successfully joins the TPP and on the opposite, if it remains outside. This study focuses on the trade and investment with some discussions of issues relating to the Indonesia’s position in the Global Value Chain (GVC) and Regional Value Chain (RVC). The latter will further discusses the impact of the TPP on economic convergence in Southeast Asia. This is an important issue given that Indonesia always expect positive economic outcomes from Southeast Asian economic integration – both at the regional level (ASEAN Economic Community) and regional plus level (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership). This presentation will discuss Indonesia’s trade position in the TPP member’s market and their investment (FDI Inflows) role in Indonesia. It will answer the question of whether Indonesia should or should not join the TPP.
Dr Kiki Verico obtained his bachelor degree in economics (monetary economics) from School of Economics Faculty of Economics and Business University of Indonesia (FEB UI), master in regional economic integration of double-degree program from University of Malaya and Universidad Autonoma de Madrid and Ph.D degree in International Studies (economics) from Waseda University in Tokyo. He started to work at the FEB UI in 1999 as teaching assistant and a year later in 2000, he joined the Institute for Economic and Social Research (LPEM FEB UI) as a research assistant. Among his research interests are international trade, Foreign Direct Investment flows, regional economic integration issues, ASEAN economic integration process, Southeast Asia economies, and multi-country economic cooperation that features Indonesia. Before he has been appointed as Deputy Director of Research of LPEM FEB UI in early January 2016, he was appointed as Head of International Trade and Macroeconomic Research Division of LPEM FEUI from August 2014 to December 2015. Dr Verico has published academic articles in peer-reviewed journals such as the Asian Journal of Agriculture and Development (AJAD), Bulletin of Indonesia Economic Studies (BIES), Economics and Finance in Indonesia (EFI) and the Journal of Economic Cooperation and Development (JECD).
Registration
To register, please fill in this form and email to iseasevents3@iseas.edu.sg by 1 September 2016.
REGIONAL ECONOMIC STUDIES PROGRAMME
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SINGAPORE APEC STUDY CENTRE
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SINGAPORE APEC STUDY CENTRE
About the Seminar
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), state-owned enterprises (SOEs), and government-linked companies (GLCs) have significant presence in Southeast Asian economies that are participating in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement. The TPP contains specific provisions covering SMEs and SOEs. Will the reduction in trade and investment barriers benefit SMEs or will it also increase competition in domestic markets? Will it enhance SME participation in global production networks? Will the SOE-related provisions in TPP create a greater level-playing field? These and other related issues will be explored in this seminar.
About the Speakers
Wan Khatina Nawawi is Director of Research at the Khazanah Research Institute. Previously, she was the Director of Research and Investment Strategy at Khazanah Nasional Berhad where she led a team looking at industrial organization (IO) issues including competition economics/law, regulatory economics, and international trade regulation. In the past, she had been a Senior Regional Economist at the National Economic Action Council (NEAC) of the Prime Minister’s Department; and a Regional Economist at SG Research, part of the Societe Generale Banking Group; among others. Khatina has degrees in public administration, competition economics and competition law, business administration, and commerce (Asian economies and economics history) from Harvard University, King’s College London, and the University of Melbourne.
Charles Harvie is currently an Associate Professor in the School of Accounting, Economics and Finance, University of Wollongong. Dr Harvie was Director of the Centre for Small Business & Regional Research, University of Wollongong. He specializes in SME development and performance, East Asian economic development and integration, economic and development issues and policy in the Greater Mekong Subregion economies. Dr Harvie has been involved in a number of research activities and projects for major international organisations including the Asian Productivity Organisation, Asian Development Bank, Asian Development Bank Institute, the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australia. He has conducted extensive research across a number of countries in East Asia and is currently focusing upon the contribution of SMEs to inclusive and broad based growth in the Greater Mekong Subregion economies. Dr Harvie received his PhD from the University of Warwick.
Programme
| 09:30 – 10:00 am | Registration |
| 10:00 – 10:30 am | The SOE Chapter in the TPPA: New Rules for State Enterprises Ms Wan Khatina Nawawi, Khazanah Research Institute, Malaysia |
| 10:30 – 11:00 am | Impact of the TPP on SMEs in Southeast Asia Assoc Professor Charles Harvie, University of Wollongong, Australia |
| 11:00 – 11:30 am | Discussions |
Registration
To register, please fill in this form and email to iseasevents3@iseas.edu.sg by 18 August 2016.
REGIONAL ECONOMIC STUDIES PROGRAMME
AND SINGAPORE APEC STUDY CENTRE SEMINAR
About the Seminar
Amongst the two most contentious issues in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement are those related to the provisions on investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) and intellectual property (IP). This seminar will feature the reflections and analyses of two eminent scholars on how the ISDS and IP provisions in TPP will affect Southeast Asian countries.
Registration
To register, please please fill in this form and email to iseasevents3@iseas.edu.sg by 4 August 2016.
Programme
| 9:30 -10:00 am | Registration |
| 10:00 -10:30 am | The Impact of TPP Investor-State Dispute Settlement on Southeast Asia
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| 10:30 -11:00 am | Understanding the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Intellectual Property Landscape and its implications for ASEAN
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| 11:00 -11:30 pm | Discussions |
Programme Details
The Impact of TPP Investor-State Dispute Settlement on Southeast Asia
Professor Luke NOTTAGE
University of Sydney
Abstract
The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement signed in February 2016 by 12 Asia-Pacific economies provides foreign investors with the option of investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS), as well as inter-state arbitration, to enforce substantive provisions on investment liberalisation and protection offered by host states to encourage more inbound investment. Although ISDS creates a more credible enforcement mechanism, concerns have been growing that it leads to too many costly arbitrations that also overly restrict host state regulatory autonomy.
To assess the impact of the TPP’s ISDS provisions, it is useful to consider regional investment trend and the broader ISDS experiences and policy positions on the part of existing signatories from ASEAN member states (Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam), as well as several others that have already indicated interest in joining the TPP after it comes into force (Indonesia, Philippines and Thailand). The first half of the paper shows they have mostly (except for Indonesia) already weathered quite successfully a few initial claims, which otherwise tend statistically to lead to strong adverse reactions in host states. Alternatively, Brunei and Singapore are unlikely to be subjected to ISDS claims and then react strongly against this procedure, meaning a major impact from the TPP provisions.
The second half of the paper examines the ISDS provisions of the TPP, as well as key features of the substantive provisions on investment that the mechanism is designed to enforce, against trends in the past and present treaty practice of the existing and potential ASEAN signatories. The analysis suggests that the TPP provisions are quite similar to those in their recent investment treaties, and indeed often more favourable to host state interests than their earlier standalone Bilateral Investment Treaties. From this perspective too, therefore, the TPP investment chapter may not have such a large adverse impact in Southeast Asia as some commentators have feared.
Nonetheless, the conclusion of the TPP and its potential expansion may cast a large shadow over other FTA negotiations, including the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (ASEAN+6 FTA). There might otherwise be more scope to introduce recent innovations proposed by the EU (including a permanent investment court, instead of ad hoc ISDS tribunals), although Vietnam has already incorporated some into its new bilateral FTA with the EU. The emerging new EU model may represent an even better balance between encouraging and protecting foreign investment and maintaining adequate regulatory autonomy, resulting in maximum net benefits for Southeast Asia.
About the Speaker
Luke Nottage specialises in international arbitration, contract law, consumer product safety law and corporate governance, with a particular interest in the Asia-Pacific region. He is Professor of Comparative and Transnational Business Law at Sydney Law School, founding Co-Director of the Australian Network for Japanese Law (sydney.edu.au/law/anjel), and Associate Director of the Centre for Asian and Pacific Law at the University of Sydney. Luke’s 12 books include International Arbitration in Australia (co-edited with Richard Garnett, Federation Press, 2010), Foreign Investment and Dispute Resolution Law and Practice in Asia (co-edited with Vivienne Bath, Routledge, 2011) and ASEAN Product Liability and Consumer Product Safety Law (co-edited with Sakda Thanitcul, Winyuchon, 2016). Luke is an ACICA Special Associate and founding member of the Rules drafting committee, the Australasian Forum for International Arbitration council’s Japan Representative, and on the panel of arbitrators for the BAC, JCAA, KCAB, KLRCA, SCIA and TAI. Luke has also consulted for law firms world-wide, ASEAN, the EC, OECD, UNCTAD, UNDP and the Japanese government, and is Managing Director of Japanese Law Links Pty Ltd (www.japaneselawlinks.com).
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Understanding the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Intellectual Property Landscape and its implications for ASEAN
Associate Professor Elizabeth Siew-Kuan Ng
National University of Singapore
Abstract
The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) has added yet another layer of complexity to the international intellectual property (IP) landscape. Concluded more than twenty years after the ground-breaking WTO’s TRIPS Agreement, TPP is part of a new paradigm where consensus on new intellectual property commitments are achieved in the context of trade and investment agreements where intellectual property is often one part of a broader negotiating package. These successive post-TRIPS bilateral and plurilateral instruments have ratcheted intellectual property standards way beyond that originally contemplated in the multilateral TRIPS Agreement. This work evaluates some of the changes that TPP will introduce, particularly in respect of the more controversial areas such as pharmaceuticals/ public health and the digital environment. It will analyse how these TRIP-plus IP provisions will impact on the current ASEAN IP landscape and proffer a potential model on how ASEAN can pursue its quest for an inclusive regional IP regime amidst the currently polarised and fragmented multilateral intellectual property framework.
About the Speaker
Elizabeth Siew-Kuan Ng is the Deputy Chairwoman and Director of Intellectual Property (IP) at the Centre for Law & Business and the Director of the Graduate Certificate in IP (GCIP) program, at the National University of Singapore (NUS) Law School. She has served as amicus curiae to the Singapore Court of Appeal on Intellectual Property matters and is an IP Adjudicator of the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore. She is also the External Academic Adviser on IP at City University of Hong Kong Law School (China), a member of the Advisory Committee and Institutional Review Board of Temasek Polytechnic SAC (Singapore) and a Fellow of the Cambridge Commonwealth Society. Elizabeth is a Barrister-at-Law of the Middle Temple (England), an Advocate and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Singapore. She graduated with a Bachelor of Laws (Honors) from the University of London’s Queen Mary College where she was awarded the Sweet & Maxwell Law prize and Faculty of Law prize. She later obtained a Master of Laws with First Class from the University of Cambridge on a Cambridge Commonwealth Trust scholarship where she was awarded the Clough prize. She was formerly a consultant of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) (Geneva) and has held visiting appointments at various international organizations and research institutes etc. including the Max Planck Institute of Intellectual Property (Munich); US Court of Appeal for the Federal Circuit (Washington DC); and EAIEL ICT Research Network (University of Hong Kong, China).
REGIONAL ECONOMIC STUDIES PROGRAMME AND SINGAPORE APEC STUDY CENTRE SEMINAR
About the Seminar
Negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) were successfully concluded on 5 October 2015. The free trade agreement has potentially far-reaching economic and geo-political consequences for member and non-member countries. Two distinguished scholars will examine these consequences in the seminar.
Presentation 1
TPP: Origin, Special Features, and Economic Implications
Shujiro URATA, Waseda University
The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) was signed by 12 Asia-Pacific countries in February 2016 after five and a half years of negotiations. The goal of the TPP was to establish a “platinum” standard agreement with high level of liberalization and comprehensive coverage to deal with 21st century issues. In the midst of stalled Doha Round of multilateral trade negotiations under the auspices of the World Trade Organization, the TPP is expected to lead the way to establish a free, open, transparent, and fair business environment in Asia-Pacific, which would contribute to economic growth of the region. This presentation will provide an overview of the TPP by discussing its origin, special features and economic implications. One of the issues taken up in the discussions of economic implications is the differing impacts of the TPP on participating and nonparticipating ASEAN Member States.
Presentation 2
Flagging Trade: The Geo-Politics of the TPP
Malcolm COOK, ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute
By definition, inter-state trade deals are politically as well as commercially motivated. States, not firms, negotiate them. The nature of the global inter-state system helps determines which states negotiate these deals amongst themselves when and how their political leaders justify the deals back home. The inter-state system today is an increasingly contested one and the contest is centred in the Asia-Pacific and between China and the United States. This presentation will first look at how the present contested regional inter-state order has influenced the TPP from when the U.S. decided to join, and how the TPP is being interpreted politically and in the media. With this geo-political “framing” of the TPP as background, the presentation will then look at what the geopolitical benefits would be for the U.S. in particular as well as other signatories if the TPP is passed and what the geo-political detriments would be if the TPP fails to be realised.
About the Speakers
Shujiro URATA is Professor of Economics at Graduate School Asia-Pacific Studies, Waseda University, Faculty Fellow at the Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI), Research Fellow at the Japanese Centre for Economic Research (JCER), Senior Research Advisor, Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA). Professor Urata received his Ph.D. in Economics from Stanford University. He specializes in international economics and has published a number of books and articles on international economic issues.
Malcolm COOK is a Senior Fellow at ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore. From 2003 to 2010, he was the inaugural East Asia Program Director at the Lowy Institute in Sydney and then the inaugural Dean of the School of International Studies at Flinders University in Adelaide. Before that, he was a lecturer at Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines. Malcolm has worked in Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Australia and Singapore.
Registration
For registration, please fill in this form and email to iseasevents3@iseas.edu.sg by 7 July 2016.
SINGAPORE APEC STUDY CENTRE
ABOUT THE SEMINAR
APEC, as an economic forum, has come a long way since its inception in 1989. The most recent APEC Leaders’ Meeting was held in Manila, Philippines on November 18th-19th, where leaders from 21 member economies convened, discussed and addressed pertinent challenges that the Asia-Pacific region is facing, and charted a course for the 21st century. This seminar attempts to present some of these discussions. What are the key highlights of the Philippines’ chairmanship this year, and what can we look forward to as Peru plays host to APEC meetings in 2016? Furthermore, with the conclusion of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations and the ongoing Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) talks, how may APEC position itself as a relevant regional forum and what progress has been made on the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP) initiative? Issues with regards to slower growth prospects will be discussed followed by possible available policy tools for economies in the region.
The seminar will also present opinion-leader survey results through the “State of the Region,” an annual publication by the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (PECC). The seminar will also cover the role of services sector in economic growth and employment generation in the Asia-Pacific economies.
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
Topic: Thriller in Manila? What has APEC Achieved this Year?
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. 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. 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: APEC Economic Analysis: Growth Softens as Challenges Intensify
Denis Hew is the Director of APEC Policy Support Unit (PSU), the research and analysis arm of APEC. He is responsible for the unit’s work program and operations. Before his current appointment, Dr Hew was Regional Cooperation Specialist at the Asian Development Bank (ADB), where he managed technical assistance and coordinated efforts on regional cooperation and integration in the Southeast Asia department.
From 2001 to 2008, Dr Hew was Senior Fellow and Program Coordinator (Regional Economic Studies) at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS) Singapore. Dr Hew has written extensively on regional
economic cooperation and integration, especially in ASEAN and the Asia-Pacific region. Dr Denis Hew
holds an MSc and PhD in Finance from the University of Manchester, United Kingdom.
Topic: The State of the Region 2015-2016 Report
Eduardo Pedrosa is the Secretary General of the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (PECC). He manages the PECC International Secretariat and represents the organization at international meetings.
Mr Pedrosa first joined PECC as its Director (Policy Program) in 2001 where he coordinated the Council’s research program in areas such as trade policy; financial and monetary cooperation; and corporate governance. Before moving to Singapore, he was the coordinator of Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung’s Southeast Asia cooperation program and the co-editor of its journal on regional economics and politics, “Panorama.” He is a co-editor of the book “An APEC Trade Agenda: The Political Economy of a Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific” (ISEAS, 2007). He is a graduate of the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Topic: APEC Services Initiative and What to Expect in 2016?
Gloria O. Pasadilla is a senior analyst at the APEC Policy Support Unit, where she conducts research on regulatory issues affecting supply chain financing and service sector reforms in the Asia Pacific.
Prior to joining APEC, she was research fellow at the ADB Institute in Tokyo, and consultant for various government agencies and international organizations. She was the Philippine lead negotiator for services in the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (AANZFTA) negotiation and was Convenor of the APEC Group on Services in 2007 and 2008. She has coedited several books on services trade and has published works as journal articles and book chapters. She holds a PhD in Economics from New York University, USA.
REGISTRATION
For registration, please fill in this form and email to iseasevents3@iseas.edu.sg by 1 December 2015.
SINGAPORE APEC STUDY CENTRE AND
REGIONAL ECONOMIC STUDIES PROGRAMME SEMINAR
ABOUT THE SEMINAR
Chile has an open and externally-oriented economy. It has long advocated regionalism in the Asia-Pacific and its diplomatic relations with Asia date back to the 18th century. Chile joined the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council in 1991 and the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation in 1994. Along with Singapore, Chile was one of the P-4 – the original core of countries promoting an Asia-Pacific free trade agreement. This initiative has since evolved into the Trans-Pacific Partnership, an ambitious and high-quality free trade initiative. In 2011, along with Mexico, Peru, and Colombia, Chile founded the Pacific Alliance – which has the goals of promoting regional integration among member countries and strengthening ties with the Asia-Pacific. Today, the Alliance has 34 observer countries, including Singapore.
This talk will first analyze the history of the TPP and the Pacific Alliance from a Chilean perspective. From there, it will address the challenges these two initiatives face in promoting regionalism and cooperation in the Asia-Pacific.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Manfred Wilhelmy, born in Germany in 1945, is a citizen of Chile. He graduated in Law from Catholic University of Valparaiso (1968) and was admitted to the bar in 1969. In 1971 and 1973 he was awarded M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Politics (Princeton University), where he specialized in the field of international relations.
He is a faculty member of the Institute of International Studies, University of Chile. He has also taught at Princeton University and at SAIS, the Johns Hopkins University. Since 2007 to 2014 he was director of the Journal Estudios Internacionales. Since 1990 he has worked on East Asian international relations. In 1994 he was appointed Executive Director of the Chile Pacific Foundation, a private organization established to promote Chile’s links with the Pacific Basin economies. He chairs the Chilean Committee on Pacific Economic Cooperation (CHILPEC), and from 2004 through 2006 he was Alternate Member of the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC).
His major publications are in the areas of Chilean foreign policy and international relations in the Latin America region and Asia-Pacific. He is a member of Chile Transparente (Chilean chapter of Transparency International).
REGISTRATION
To register, please complete the reply form and email to iseasevents3@iseas.edu.sg.