29th PECC General Meeting Concludes

The 29^th PECC General Meeting concluded on 3^rd November 2022. The event was hosted by the Thailand National Committee of the Pacific Economic Council (TNCPEC) and the International Study Centre of the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the theme of “Asia Pacific beyond Thailand APEC 2022”. The conference provided insights and in-depth discussions on 3 key themes:

1.    The disruption affecting APEC connectivity during 2016-2022
2.    Trends of trade and investment liberalization / restrictions of APEC economies beyond 2022
3.    APEC cooperation to enhance the development of the BCG Economy; impact on climate change

Thailand’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, H.E. Mr. Don Pramudwinai opened the event with a keynote address. He highlighted on the challenging global issues on food, fuel, and financial crises that are faced by many economies. He underscored that the shifting of geo-politics caused adversities for most economies to undertake transformative changes, par...

State of the Region 2022-2023

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

From mid-August to mid-September the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council conducted its annual survey of the regional policy experts’ views on the state of the region. The findings show a 180 degree turnaround from last year’s results on expectations for economic growth. The  percentage of respondents expressing an optimistic view on the prospects for global growth changed from 55 to 17 percent and those with a pessimistic outlook rose from 17 percent to 60 percent. Risks remain heavily tilted to the downside with inflation by far the main concern. While views varied across the Asia-Pacific, there remain continued concerns over the risk of new waves of the Covid-19 virus emerging indicating that the region is not yet fully out of ‘pandemic mode’. Forecast for growth for the region this year have similarly come down from 5.1 percent in October 2021 to 2.6 percent in October 2022.

By far, inflation was considered the top risk to growth with 51 percent of respondents s...

AUSPECC: Mr Christopher Langman appointed as the new AUSPECC Chair

   
Mr Christopher Langman succeeds Dr. Gordon de Brouwer as the Chair of the Australian PECC committee (AUSPECC). Mr Langman has had a distinguished career in the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. He was Deputy Secretary, Trade, Investment, and Business Engagement Group, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade from 2018 to 2021.

Prior to that, he was Australia's Ambassador to Iraq. Mr Langman earlier served as Ambassador to the OECD in Paris, as Deputy Head of Mission to the United Nations in Geneva, and in Washington and Buenos Aires.

In Canberra, Mr Langman has held a number of senior positions, including as First Assistant Secretary, G20 Policy in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet in the lead-up to and during Australia's host year in 2014. He has also led DFAT's Trade and Economic Division, and the Office of Trade Negotiations, and was Special Negotiator for Agriculture and Australian Ambassador for the Environment.  

NZPECC: Dr. Alan Bollard appointed as the new NZPECC Chair

  
Alan Bollard (CNZM; PhD Auck; FRSNZ) is a Professor of Pacific Region Business at Victoria University of Wellington, and inaugural Chair for Pacific Region Business. 

Alan is also the Chair of the Infrastructure Commission, Chair of the cross-university Centres for Asia-Pacific Excellence, and Chair of the New Zealand Portrait Gallery. He is NZ Governor of the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia, and was on the Organizing Committee for NZ APEC 2021. He is a Director of China Construction Bank (NZ).

Previously, Alan was the Director of the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research 1987-1994; Chairman of the New Zealand Commerce Commission from 1994 to 1998; and was the Secretary to the Treasury between 1998 and 2020.

Between 2002 and 2012, Alan was the Governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, responsible for monetary policy and bank regulation, helping steer New Zealand through the global financial crisis. Bollard became the Executive Director of the APEC Secre...

HKCPEC: Prof Tam Kar Yan appointed as the new HKCPEC Chair

Professor Kar Yan TAM is Dean of the HKUST Business School and Chair Professor of Information Systems, Business Statistics and Operations Management. Prior to being Dean of the Business School, he was Dean of Students and Associate Provost at HKUST. Professor Tam is a board member of the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) and the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD) and was the Past President of the Association of Asia Pacific Business Schools (AAPBS). Currently, he is the Chairperson of the Curriculum Development Council of the Education Bureau and serves on the Exchange Fund Advisory Committee of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority. He is also a member of the Hong Kong Productivity Council, the Board of the Hong Kong Metropolitan University, THEi Council, and the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing Review Tribunal.