More than 630 of the world's top business,
social and political leaders will be in Bangkok this week to attend the World
Economic Forum on East Asia, debating the challenges and opportunities facing
the region today and in the near future. The Bangkok Post spoke with the WEF's
Sushant Palakurthi Rao about the event's goals.
The
theme of this event is "Shaping the Region's Future through
Connectivity". Why is this particularly relevant to Asia?
There
are only three years until Asean's planned economic integration which is
intended to enhance the movement of people, capital and goods and services in a
market of 600 million people. However, realising this vision for a single
market and production base will require collaboration not only at a policy
level, but also among leaders from industry and civil society.
Therefore,
our themes for this year's meeting as well as the programme speak to how the
region must leverage its high-growth economies, demographic dividend and
technology base to enhance the development of physical infrastructure,
institutional connectivity and the free flow of goods and services.
This
is a first for Thailand to host a WEF event. Why Thailand?
There
are two reasons. First, Thailand has long been associated as a hub for the
region. Today,
Thailand's
own high-growth economy _ the second largest in Asean _ is surrounded by other
fast-growing markets such as Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam, and is close to China
and India. Thailand is an ideal location to deliberate the theme of
connectivity.
Second,
our engagement in Thailand is an excellent example of our multi-stakeholder
philosophy of bringing leaders together from all walks of life. Over the past
years, the number of stakeholders from Thailand who actively participate and
contribute to the initiatives and activities of the World Economic Forum has
steadily increased. Seventeen enterprises from Thailand are members of the
forum, and a number of our Global Shapers, Young Global Leaders and Social
Entrepreneurs come from Thailand and are at this year's summit.
Given
the lingering economic troubles in Europe and North America, Asia is widely
expected to command the lion's share of new investment for the near future. Yet
capital flows and robust headline growth perhaps mask some of the broader
challenges faced by the region, including education, social safety nets,
environmental protection and the maturity (or lack thereof) of public
institutions and governance. Would you agree?
Long-term
economic growth is only sustainable when the systems for education, social
welfare, job creation, health and environmental protection are addressed. For
this reason, these are just a sample of the topics that are on the agenda for
this year's summit.
At the
same time, one cannot forget that on the whole, no other region in the world
has reduced poverty faster than East Asia. Despite a major financial crisis in
1997, the region has demonstrated its will to reform and to transform as
witnessed in examples such as Vietnam's opening to the global economy,
Indonesia's transition to democracy, and Myanmar's recent astounding reforms.
These illustrations are by no means cause for complacency, as more remains to
be done, but East Asia can serve as a model for other high-growth regions in
the world such as Africa and Latin America.
Asia,
and in particular Asean, is moving quickly toward greater integration and
regionalisation. Yet despite the increased economic ties that join Asian
countries, long-standing political and social tensions remain, such as tensions
in the South China Sea, the Korean peninsula, Thai-Cambodia relations, etc. Can
one (economic integration) move completely without the other?
No, the
two are certainly interlinked, and for this reason, the forum publishes an
annual study on Global Risks. This year's programme also has a selection of
sessions dedicated to the key risks for the region.
The
World Economic Forum has been characterised as a "rich man's networking
club". Your thoughts on that?
I
cannot identify with that statement. The forum not only convenes leaders from
industry, but has equally developed communities of the key figures among
globally active NGOs, trade unions, faith leaders, women leaders, young global
leaders and social entrepreneurs. This underscores our core value of
stimulating interaction within communities, but also leveraging the uniqueness of
our multi-stakeholder approach to stimulate dialogue and action between all our
communities. Through our unique platform, we have been able to form
unprecedented public-private partnerships.
For
example, at the recent G8 meeting, President Obama and four African heads of
state launched a G8 initiative titled the "New Alliance for Food Security
and Nutrition", developed in collaboration with the WEF, building on the
work of our New Vision for Agriculture and Grow Africa initiatives. The
alliance establishes global leadership support for public-private investment
and collaboration to strengthen food security in Africa.
Forty-eight
companies made specific investment commitments totalling more than US$3 billion
in value, and the majority of these commitments were developed through an
intensive 14-week effort by our network of partners, African leaders and the US
government. The forum will engage with G8 leaders going forward to monitor
progress and build further momentum.
Sushant Palakurthi
Rao is a senior director and the head of Asia for the World Economic Forum. For
more information about the event, please visit wef.ch/EA2012. Follow the Bangkok Post's
coverage of the World Economic Forum at bangkokpost.com/wef
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