Growth and Integration of East Asia

story from Tokyo Development Learning Center
December 8, 2008, Monday, 3:00pm-4:00pm (Tokyo time)

The World has been faced with unprecedented challenges and structural shifts in its international economy and finance landscape, so are domestic economies in most countries. How the economic growth in the East Asia is and will be affected by recent global economic difficulties? Would the East Asian integration be influenced, and, if so, how? What are the most salient issues in ASEAN, ASEAN+3, or ASEAN+6?

At the occasion to receive the visit of Dr. Surin Pitsuwan, ASEAN Secretary-General, in Tokyo on December 8, 2008, the World Bank group in Tokyo had the honor to organize an international videoconference in the East Asia and Pacific Region.  We also had the pleasure to invite renowned panelists: Mr. Shujiro Urata, Professor, Waseda University, and Mr. Vikram Nehru, Director, Poverty Reduction and Economic Management, East Asia and Pacific Region, the World Bank.

This one-hour interactive session was connected to the World Bank offices in the region and a number of sites in Global Development Learning Network (GDLN), as well as universities in Japan.  It was also widely broadcasted through Internet to the general public in ASEAN countries who couldn’t come to those sites.

Program

Speaker:	Dr. Surin Pitsuwan, Secretary-General, ASEAN
Panelists:	Mr. Shujiro Urata, Professor, Graduate School of Asia-Pacific Studies, Waseda University Mr. Vikram Nehru, Director, PREM Sector Dept., East Asia and Pacific Region, the World Bank
Moderator:	Mr. Kazushige Taniguchi, Special Representative, Tokyo, The World Bank

Agenda (in Tokyo time):

3:00pm	Opening	Mr. Kazushige Taniguchi, Special Representative, Tokyo, the World Bank
3:05pm	Speech	Dr. Surin Pitsuwan, Secretary-General, ASEAN
3:25pm	Comments	Mr. Shujiro Urata, Professor, Waseda University Mr. Vikram Nehru, Director, the World Bank
3:45pm	Q&A
3:57pm	Closing

Venue

The World Bank, Tokyo Development Learning Center, Japan