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"New Century Belongs to Asia" - Hears Opening Session of World Economic Forum on East Asia

15 June 2006 - Tokyo, Japan

Participants at the opening session of the World Economic Forum on East Asia were told that Asia’s economic growth is steadily enabling it to replace its longstanding reliance on exports to the West with intraregional trade in goods and services aimed at its own increasingly affluent consumers. Ensuring that this transition continues smoothly, however, will depend on how well Asian nations can boost cooperation and integration to find common solutions to disparities of income, scarce resources and environmental pollution.

“The new century belongs to Asia,” said Jiang Jianqing, Chairman of the Board, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, People's Republic of China. “But at the same time we need to seriously tackle the many challenges we face today.”

Jiang was one of several panellists addressing the opening plenary of the World Economic Forum on East Asia, the Forum’s first ever regional meeting in Japan. The meeting is being held in partnership with Keizai Doyukai (Japan Association of Corporate Executives) and brings together more than 300 global leaders from business, politics, government, academia, civil society and the media from 35 countries.

Organized around the theme “Creating a New Agenda for Asian Integration,” the meeting is being co-chaired by Hassan Marican, President and Chief Executive Officer, PETRONAS (Petroliam Nasional), Malaysia; Henry A. McKinnell, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Pfizer, USA; Kunio Nakamura, President, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Japan; Nandan M. Nilekani, President, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Infosys Technologies, India; Sir Martin Sorrell, Group Chief Executive, WPP, United Kingdom; Junichi Ujiie, Chairman, Nomura Holdings, Japan; and Yun Jong-Yong, Vice-Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Samsung Electronics, Republic of Korea.

The emergence of China and India into the global economy has given Asia the opportunity to achieve greater economic self-reliance, diminishing its dependence on exporting to the US and the EU. Asia has begun to evolve into a massive consumer market, fostering intraregional trade and reducing the region’s vulnerability to economic cycles in the US and EU.

At the same time, the proliferation of the Internet and other digital technologies is breaking down barriers between nations and industries. This handmaiden of globalization has enabled many in the region to leapfrog ahead in terms of development and compete in the global economy. Japan, South Korea and now China have emerged as centres of technological innovation, while India has seized an expanding niche in providing services to global companies. As a result, said Kamal Nath, Minister of Commerce and Industry of India, “the Western countries that trumpeted globalization are really witnessing the effects of that globalization.”

But with that growth, many challenges to the region have also emerged. Asian nations now compete for increasingly scarce resources, particularly energy, warned Hoang Trung Hai, Minister of Industry of Vietnam. Ecological damage is another threat that doesn’t respect borders. “We also see within countries and within the region the widening gap of the rich and the poor in the region,” said Hassan. “This is a risk of instability as we move forward.” In particular, Hassan said, Asia needs to address the question of how to prevent its increasingly skilled, English-speaking workforce from emigrating to the West, and reduce barriers to labour movement in Asia to ensure that ageing populations like Japan can find sufficient workers, and young, but poorer, countries like the Philippines can find adequate jobs.

Yun Jong-Yong, Vice-Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Samsung Electronics, Republic of Korea; Co-Chair of the World Economic Forum on East Asia, suggested that Asian nations forge closer cooperation in science and technology, developing a programme of academic exchanges that would help develop a regional body of technical expertise.

Towards that end, said Toshihiro Nikai, Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan, Japan is planning to create an Asian version of the Fulbright scholarship, inviting 2,000 students from around Asia to study in Japan each year and helping them find jobs after graduation. He also called for the creation of a regional economic think-tank along the lines of the Organisation for Economic and Co-operation and Development in France. Japan will also continue to try to reduce barriers to Asian trade by pursuing bilateral and multilateral free-trade agreements with its Asian trading partners, Nikai said.

Asia is at an inflection point, warned Yun, and must either seize the opportunity to become the heart of the new global economy or be left behind. It must use its rich history to find a common heritage rather than fuel historical enmities. “We should make an effort to better understand each other’s history and customs in order to increase mutual understanding,” he said. “If we hang on to the past we are only impeding each other’s progress.”

The Asia Forum plenary sessions will be webcast and podcast LIVE. For more details on the panel, please visit www.weforum.org/eastasia/webcasts and www.weforum.org/eastasia/podcasts

The host broadcaster of the meeting is NHK – Japan Broadcasting Corporation.

Notes to Editors:
Free-of-charge, print-quality photos are available at www.pbase.com/forumweb/eastasia
More information about the World Economic Forum on East Asia is available at www.weforum.org/eastasia (programme) and www.weforum.org/pressreleases (press releases).
In-depth interviews with key participants can be read here: www.weforum.org/eastasia/indepth
Summaries of the sessions can be found at www.weforum.org/eastasia/summaries2006

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