JANCPEC held a sub-committee meeting of PEO (Pacific Economic Outlook) Structure group on November 18, 2011 in Osaka, Japan to discuss the new theme, "monetary policy regime." 

As the coordinator of the project, Professor Akira Kohsaka invited the committee members to think about the current state of global economy and what needs to be done to strengthen it. Debates on discretionary versus inflation targeting monetary policies followed. In advanced economies, rule-based monetary policies represented by inflation targeting have been pursued. However, they failed to prevent the global asset market bubble bursts.  In the case of emerging economies, by abandoning virtual dollar peg exchange rate systems, they were advised to adopt another nominal anchor, i.e. inflation targeting policies with flexible exchange rates and freer capital movement. 

The following points were asked:

- The current economic crisis has seriously affected domestic financial systems and macroeconomic developments in the region; how effective have the policies been so far? 
- Do we need to change the framework of monetary policy management in terms of their independence, exchange rate stability, and capital mobility? 
- What could be done to strengthen the regional financial cooperation?

Dr. Peter Morgan (Senior Consultant for Research, Asia Development Bank Institute) was invited as a special speaker. He said that the Asian monetary policy responses were reasonably successful in dealing with the financial crisis but that financial stability needs to be better incorporated in the monetary framework. He said that capital flow management requires a multi-tier approach:
- Structural: financial and institutional/ regulatory development and capital outflow liberalization in the longer term
- Macroeconomic: sterilized intervention, monetary easing, fiscal tightening and exchange rate flexibility
- Macroprudential policy: domestic macroprudential measures and capital inflow controls for the trilemma

Dr. Morgan also added that we need to strengthen regional financial and monetary cooperation such as the Chiang Mai Initiative and by coordinating capital inflow controls, and exchange rate policies. 

The next PEO Structure group specialist meeting will be held in March 2012 in Osaka, Japan. 

For sixty years, Frank Holmes was a colossus of New Zealand's social and economic development.

From a base as an applied economist, Frank influenced a great deal of New Zealand's social and economic development – the formulation and execution of fiscal and monetary policy, the design of social policy, education policy – but central to his achievement was New Zealand's place in the international economy. He was quick to see the implications of economic integration in Europe for the global economy and for New Zealand in particular. Anybody who thought that Britain's 1973 entry to the then-EEC was a surprise development for the New Zealand economy had not read what Frank had been writing for the previous 15 years.

When Kojima in Japan, England in Canada, Patrick in the US, Crawford in Australia, Narongchai in Thailand, Soesastro in Indonesia, among others, began exploring the appropriate Asia-Pacific response to European integration, it was Frank they turned to and who ensured New Zealand was part of the project. He was at the heart of the Pacific Trade and Development Conference, PAFTAD, for many years. Furthermore, Frank never lost the vision of economics as providing common ground between abstract thinking and business strategies. Although most of his career was in the public sector, he was briefly a manager of a pulp & paper company and he was eventually a director several major companies in the finance sector. He was therefore well placed to participate in the business councils that promoted private sector collaboration in the Asia Pacific region including the Pacific Basic Economic Council. At the time of the first efforts to create a governmental network, Frank was chair of the NZ Planning Council and he used that position to lead New Zealand's participation in the Pacific Economic Cooperation Conference which later became a Council, PECC, and which created the climate for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation process. Frank was a long-term member of the New Zealand Committee for Pacific Economic Cooperation which eventually evolved into NZPECC.

Frank's heart was always in the university, and PAFTAD was probably the Asia Pacific institution he valued mostly highly. He shared the view of Hadi Soesastro that it was the "heart" of the Asia Pacific movement, the "track 0" from which various other tracks radiated. When PAFTAD met in New Zealand in 1987, it was Frank who chose the then novel area of trade in services as its central focus. Frank wrote a lot about New Zealand's economic diplomacy, much published by the Institute of Policy Studies and concerned with New Zealand's positioning relative to Australia, Europe, and Asia. All of it looked toward the future, and to the benefits of cooperation for all in the region.

Everyone who interacted with Frank will remember him not only for the cogency of his thinking, but for his unfailing good humour. He must have been frustrated at times, but he could always see the other person's point of view as well as his own.

Gary Hawke
Former NZPECC Chair

Effective October 3, 2011, Mr. Denis McNamara has been appointed the new chair for the New Zealand committee for PECC. Mr. McNamara is a consultant with Lowndes Associates as well as a long-time board member of NZPECC. He graduated from Auckland University with an honors degree in law and was admitted to the New Zealand bar as a barrister and solicitor in 1970. For most of his legal career, he has been a practising commercial/ corporate lawyer with a significant emphasis on direct foreign investment into New Zealand. His predecessor, Dr. Coral Ingley will continue to use her expertise as a member of the NZPECC Board.

Jim was the ultimate professional in his work and the ultimate gentleman in his dealings with people from all walks of life and all cultures.  He quietly went about his professional and personal activities without fanfare and without seeking acknowledgement.

 This is not to underestimate the tremendous contribution he made to support people, organizations and projects within Australia and overseas.   It was often well after an event that one discovered the extent of the work, the kindness and the insight of Jim Short’s guiding hand in bringing an issue to fruition and success.

Jim demonstrated great patience and wisdom in dealing with people, and with big organisations like Universities and government agencies.  Some of us who became over-enthusiastic about some particular idea were often met with Jim’s encouraging response but one which went on to show there was a better way to get the same result.

Cooperative institutions in the Asia Pacific were great beneficiaries of Jim Short’s knowledge of the Asia Pacific region, acquired over many years through his missions in Austrade.

These included the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) but especially the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (PECC).   He showed great commitment to their goals and enjoyed their successes.

Jim was cherished as a reliable and congenial focal point of the Australia PECC system by all his colleagues across the 23 Asia Pacific economies of PECC as well as those in Australia.

Jim worked as Executive Director of AUSPECC from 1998 through to the PECC General Meeting held in Sydney in 2007 – the first time PECC returned to Australia since its foundation in 1980. The extra challenge for Jim in organizing the Seventeenth PECC General Meeting was that it has the first meeting to be held after a major restructuring of how the Council delivers its work program. The way the event was organized became a model for future General Meetings.

Colleagues meeting in Washington last week for a PECC General Meeting recalled his great contributions to work of the Council and recalled especially its meeting in Sydney in 2007. One of the many things Jim leaves with us is an understanding of how to get things done in these sorts of organisations.  He continues to be a reference point for us in that respect.

A particularly poignant event for Jim was a conference hosted by the China committee (CNCPEC) on “Mining Economy; Development and Environmental Protection held in Taiyuan, Shanxi Province. Jim’s wife Monika had spent some years there so Jim’s mission was to track down the house she had stayed in. To his delight, Jim not only found the house but people who had been taught by Monika’s parents.

Jim was immensely loyal to his friends and colleagues and never engaged in unconstructive commentary about frustrating people or issues. Jim Short was a great man.  he will be well remembered for his integrity, his friendship and his many and varied contributions to life and to people.

 Christopher Findlay, David Parsons, Eduardo Pedrosa and members of the PECC community

10/10/11

Jim Short at the house where his wife Monika lived as a child in Shanxi, with the new house occupants and two doctors who had been taught by Monika’s parents

Trends and Developments E-newsletter 2011

'Trends and Developments' is a bi-annual e-newsletter produced by the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat based on the Forum Economic Ministers’ Meeting (FEMM) work Programme. FEMM considers a range of issues impacting on economic development in the region. In this issue:
 
· 2011 FEMM Outcomes;
· Remittances Issues;
· Interest Rate Issues;
· Climate Change Financing;
· SME Financing;
· Financial Inclusion;
· Economic Outlook; and
· Commodity Prices.

To download this issue of 'Trends and Developments' click here.

The 47th Meeting of the Hong Kong Committee for Pacific Economic Cooperation (HKCPEC), chaired by Professor Sung Yun-wing, was held on Tuesday, 16 August 2011 at the Hong Kong Trade and Industry Department. Members of the public were also welcome to attend the opening session of the meeting.

The meeting agenda included:

•Youth delegates for the 20th General Meeting of PECC;
•HKCPEC participation in PECC Internship Program, 2012;
•HKCPEC Seminar;
•Youth Program 2011/ 2012

For further enquiries, please contact the HKCPEC Secretariat at +852 2398 5449 or 2398 5594/ This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

The Fundación Chilena del Pacífico held the inaugural Edgardo Boeninger Memorial Lecture on 5 July 2011. Dr. Edgardo Boeninger was the international chair of the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council from 1995 to 1997. He was formerly a member of the Senate and Secretary General of the Presidency of Chile under Patricio Aylwin.

The lecture was delivered by Prof. Gareth Evans AO, QC, former Australian Foreign Minister, Chairman Emeritus of the International Crisis Group, Professorial Fellow at the University of Melbourne and Chancellor, the Australian National University.

The speech by Prof. Evans was preceded by a brief introduction by Dr. Manfred Wilhelmy and by two other speeches: the first by Prof. Rosa Devés, Pro Rector, Universidad de Chile; the second by former President Patricio Aylwin. While Prof. Devés highlighted Edgardo's contribution to higher education (as Dean of the Faculty of Economics and later as Rector of the University), Aylwin focused on Edgardo's outstanding role in public service, especially under his administration in the position of Minister Secretary General of the Presidency.

The event sponsor was CorpBanca, a Chilean banking group that has generously agreed to support the series. Over 150 people, including former President Ricardo Lagos attended the event, Alejandro Foxley, former Minister and senator, who represents the Boeninger family in the E.B. Memorial Lecture Steering Committee, made a closing statement. 

The Fundación Chilena del Pacífico is the host institution of the Chilean National Committee for Pacific Economic Cooperation (CHILPEC). Dr. Boeninger was the founding chair of CHILPEC and played an instrumental role in Chile's membership of the Asia-Pacific community. 

Professor Tan Teck Meng, former chair of SINCPEC, passed away in the early morning of 7 July 2011 in his sleep. He had been battling cancer for some time. Prof Tan was the chair of SINCPEC from 1997 to 2008, he was also a member of the Finance Committee and Trustee of the PECC Special Fund Trust. He will be missed by the PECC community. We offer our condolences and sympathies fo the family of the late Professor Tan Teck Meng.

Please leave your comments in our blog.

[photo: Amb. WU Zhenglong, Secretary General of CNCPEC in Jakarta, 27 April 2011]

A business delegation from China led by its PECC member committee, CNCPEC rendered a visit to Jakarta on 27 April 2011 to sign an MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) with its counterpart in Indonesia. The objective is to boost cooperation in developing the renewable energy sector in Indonesia and to ultimately reduce the latter's dependence on fossil fuels. Ambassador Wu Zhenglong, the Secretary General for CNCPEC said that the two economies face similar challenges and that such bilateral collaboration is hoped to mutually benefit the economic development by strengthening the usage of wind, hydro, and solar energies in the future.

Related news on Jakarta Post

The 46th Meeting of the Hong Kong Committee for Pacific Economic Cooperation (HKCPEC) was held on 8 June 2011 at the Hong Kong Trade and Industry Department. Members of the public were welcome to attend the opening session of the meeting chaired by Professor Sung Yun-wing. 

The meeting agenda included:

• Youth Outreach Programme 2011/12;
• Updates on the 20th General Meeting and Standing Committee Meeting of the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (PECC) to be held in Washington DC, USA in September 2011;
• HKCPEC's participation in the Pacific Economic Outlook Structure Specialists' Meeting held in Osaka, Japan in September 2010;
• PECC State of the Region Survey conducted in September and October 2010;
• Reports on the outcomes of the 19th General Meeting and Standing Committee Meeting of the PECC held in Tokyo, Japan in October 2010; and
• "Services Trade: New Approaches for the 21st century" conference jointly organised by PECC and Asian Development Bank Institute in Hong Kong.

For further enquiries, please contact the HKCPEC Secretariat at +852 2398 5449 or 2398 5594/ This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

The 7th PECC International Trade and Investment Fair took place on 28 May to 1 June at the Tianjin Meijiang Exhibition & Convention Center. The co-organizers for the event were China Council for the Promotion of International Trade Tianjin Sub-Council, the China Chamber of International Commerce, Tianjin Chamber of Commerce, Tianjin World Trade Center Association.

The opening ceremony was followed by a forum where Mr Ren Xuefeng, Vice Mayor of Tianjin Municipal People’s Government, Mr Dong Songgen, Vice Chairman of CCPIT, and Mr Li Rongcan, Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Commerce delivered opening remarks.

The fair featured exhibits from Tianjin's biggest companies and multinationals operating in the area including CSR who are building mass transit systems, Bohai Oilfields, CASC - China's global positioning system, Airbus, Walmart and many others. The fair also included a special fair on attracting talent to the Tianjin region 

An international forum on China’s “Going Global Strategy and Policy” featured presentations on:

• Deepening the Reform of ODI Control to Facilitate the Going Out Drive
  Sun Lujun, Director of Capital Account Management Department, State Administration of Foreign Exchange
  Peng Ning, Vice Director of International Taxation Department, State Administration of Taxtation

• Growing a Business Overseas
  James Zimmerman, Honorary Chairman of American Chamber of Commerce China

• Risk Control for ODI
  Martin Miller, General Manager of Commerzbank Tianjin Branch

• Support Chinese Enterprises in Doing Business Abroad with the Resources of CCPIT
  Jia Huai, Vice Director General of Economic Information Department, CCPIT

Dr. Wook Chae, President of KIEP (Korea Institute for International Economic Policy), succeeds Dr. Soogil Young as the chair of the Korean committee for PECC (KOPEC), effective 7 March 2011. Dr. Chae has been reappointed the President of KIEP on 13 May 2011 upon completion of his initial three-year term. Dr. Chae, who earned his Ph. D in economics from the University of Michigan in 1990, is a leading Korean expert on trade policy issues. He joined KIEP in 1990 when it was founded.  In his capacity as the president of KIEP, Dr. Chae represents Korea also in the international steering committee for PAFTAD.

The former chair of KOPEC, Dr. Soogil Young’s resignation came as part of the Korean government's measure to incorporate KOPEC into KIEP. This move, according to Dr. Young, will not only create greater coherence among Korea's PECC, APEC Study Center and PAFTAD activities, but also give a clearer focus to Korea's contribution to the international effort in building a Pacific economic community. Dr. Young will continue to focus on the economics of "low carbon green growth" as the chair of the presidential committee on green growth.

The PECC community extends its deepest sympathy and condolences to the people affected by the catastrophic earthquake and tsunami that have swept across the northeast of Japan on 11 March 2011. Our thoughts are with the victims and the rescue workers in Japan as we continue to receive news about the dire situation. We laud the courage and resilience shown by the Japanese people in coping with the extremely difficult circumstances.

Related PECC documents:

Concurrent session 3 at PECC GM XIX focused on Disaster Relief

Related external links:

About APEC Working Group on Emergency Preparedness

ASEAN Regional Forum Disaster Relief Exercise (DiREx), 14-19 March 2011

CSCAP Draft Memorandum No. 15 The Security Implications of Climate Change (June 2010)

Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University (NTU) Commentaries:

'Japan Earthquake and Tsunami: End for the Nuclear Industry?'

'Japan in Disaster: Managing Energy Vulnerabilities'

The Japanese sub-committee for Pacific Economic Outlook (PEO) Structure Project met on 22 November 2010 to discuss the contents of final papers on Japan and China. Project coordinator Prof. Akira Kohsaka (Osaka University) convened the meeting with the participation of ten other scholars.

Download the summary of "Macro-financial Linkages and Financial Deepening" presented at PECC General Meeting XIX

A new project phase will commence in October 2011 to run till September 2013. The next theme is anticipated to focus on monetary policy regimes.

The annual CTPECC Youth Camp took place from 30 June to 1 July this year at Tianmu Convention Center in Taipei. The aim of the annual event is to inform undergraduate students of important current international affairs and to equip them with skills needed to analyze and deliberate on global economic and political affairs. Speakers consisted of eminent persons from the academia, the business community, and the government who gave presentations regarding major international current issues, cultures, and etiquettes among others. One highlight of the camp was the simulation workshop of APEC meetings (Model APEC). Young students were assigned to various working groups representing different economies to discuss and debate on issues of regional economic integration and green growth.

Click here for the program agenda (in Chinese).