Experts Convene in Singapore ahead of the APEC Summit

Leaders from twenty-one Asia-Pacific economies will gather in Singapore for the annual APEC Summit in November 2009. To provide ideas and suggestions on the major business issues that the leaders of the Asia-Pacific region will address, the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (PECC) gathered thought-leaders and decision-makers from across the region to discuss some of the critical issues brought by the global economic crisis and suggest possible solutions.

Minister Raymond Lim speaking at the SINCPEC conference

Dynamic discussions covered a variety of agenda including: social safety nets, APEC trade agenda, doing business in Asia, trade finance, climate change, regional institutional architecture, and new governance. Lim Hng Kiang (Minister for Trade and Industry, Singapore), Raymond Lim (Minister for Transport and Second Minister for Foreign Affairs, Singapore), Haruhiko Kuroda (President, Asian Development Bank), Emil Salim (Advisory Council to the President of Indonesia), Amb. Yoshiji Nogami (President, Japan Institute of International Affairs), Prof. Huang Yiping (Peking University) and Amb. Stapleton Roy (Director, Kissinger Institute on China and the US) spoke at this extraordinary conference.

It was highlighted that as the region pulls itself out of the crisis, structural reform measures should not come at the expense of long-term challenges such as tackling climate change or addressing social concerns. APEC has an even bigger role to play in deepening and intensifying the international cooperation.

This conference was co-organized by the PECC Secretariat, the Singapore national committee for PECC, and facilitated by the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS).

To download the full programme, click here.