Towards a More Resilient Society: Lessons from Economic Crises (2015-2017)

A series of regional and global financial crises highlighted the need to enhance the resilience of social infrastructure against sudden shocks, particularly for those categorized as vulnerable groups. More recently, a persistent and widening social divide that casts a shadow on the stability of national and global systems presents a serious challenge, and more social policies need to be developed to mitigate this gap.

In response to these challenges within the Asia-Pacific regional context, the Japan National Committee for Pacific Economic Cooperation (JANCPEC) has been conducting the Social Resilience Research Project (SR Project) as a Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (PECC) International Project since 2010. The SR Project aims to shed light on the importance of social security and to closely examine its role in the domestic economy. In addition, the SR Project is the first ambitious attempt by the APEC/PECC family to discuss social policy dimensions, as APEC and PECC have tradit...

PECC Mourns the Passing of Bob Hawke

Robert James Lee Hawke, Prime Minister of Australia from 1983 to 1991 passed away on 16 May 2019. His passing in the year that APEC celebrates its 30th anniversary provides a timely opportunity to reflect on one its founder’s intent. Typical of his sense of humor, when asked to reflect on APEC’s achievements and future role at the 13th PECC General Meeting in Manila in 1999, he quipped ‘I come to the task with a certain amount of pride for, while many people played a significant role in the emergence of APEC, I guess that if a paternity suit were launched I would be the prime suspect.’

Hawke studied at the University of Western Australia and University College, Oxford. In 1956 he joined the Australian Council of Trade Unions and was elected as its president in 1969. He was first elected as a Labor MP in 1980 and went on to lead the party to victory in the 1983 election.

It was through a speech given on 31 January 1989 to the Korean business community in Seoul that Hawke outli...

PECC Task Force Gathers in Auckland to discuss APEC after 2020

From left to right: Mr Rory McLeod, Prof Gary Hawke, Ambassador Muhamad Noor, Ambassador Zhang Xianyi, Mr Brian Lynch, Dr Yang Zerui, Dato’ Steven Wong, Mr Eduardo Pedrosa, Dr Charles Morrison, Ms Yvonne Lucas, Dr Steven Poelhekke, Ms Fran O’Sullivan, Prof Robert Scollay, and Dr Alan Bollard

The PECC task force on APEC Beyond 2020 met in Auckland on 22-23 March. Members of the task force were joined by the immediate past Executive Directors of APEC, Dr Alan Bollard and Ambassador Muhamad Noor Yacob as well as members of the New Zealand PECC committee.

Since 1994, APEC’s work has been driven by the Bogor Goals of free and open trade and investment by 2020. With that deadline looming large, in 2017 when APEC leaders met in Danang they established a Vision Group to assist Senior Officials in shaping the post-2020 Vision, including through consultations with relevant stakeholders. To facilitate PECC’s input to this process, the Standing Committee established a task force under t...

Dr Craig Emerson Appointed as Director of the Australian APEC Study Centre

Dr Craig Emerson, former Minister of Trade, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister on Asian Century Policy, the Minister for Competition Policy and the Minister for Tertiary Education has been appointed as the Director of the RMIT APEC Study Center which also acts the secretariat for AUSPECC.

Architect of the White Paper on Australia in the Asian Century, Emerson said he was honoured to accept the role at RMIT as it sought to build capacity across the Asia-Pacific region. “As trade adviser to Prime Minister Bob Hawke when Australia initiated APEC in 1989, it is an honour, three decades later to be playing such an important role in helping to shape the group’s future thinking and its work program,” he said.

Emerson has a long Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) association and a keen passion for advancing the economic development of the Asia-Pacific region, having represented Australia at the 2012 APEC Leaders’ Summit in Vladivostok.

He will also build domestic and international ...

State of the Region 2018-2019

The Asia-Pacific expected to grow by 3.9 percent this year and 3.7 percent in 2019. These are significant downward revisions from forecasts made earlier in the year, as a result of the materialization of risks to growth, in particular trade conflicts, higher commodity prices, rising interests and volatile capital markets.

The results of PECC’s annual survey of the regional policy community largely echo current economic forecasts with the general expectation that growth will be at around the same level in 2019 as 2018, Over 42 percent of respondents expect growth to be about the same – in line with current forecasts. Of concern, however, is that the buoyancy at this time last year has dissipated. The top 5 risks to growth over the next 2-3 years were:

• Increased protectionism and trade wars
• Possible slowdown in world trade growth
• A slowdown in the Chinese economy
• Lack of political leadership
• Corruption

While it is clear that trade restricting measures have been on the rise, at...