Roadmap

At the last World Economic Forum on East Asia, confidence in the resilience of Asia’s economies was marked by positive economic growth forecasts, expanding intra-regional trade, rising investments and staggering levels of US currency reserves.

Only one year later, the prospect of a US recession, soaring food and fuel prices and a downturn in global demand have led to concern about Asia’s ability to decouple from the US sub-prime mortgage crisis, which is expected to lead to worldwide losses close to US$ 945 billion.

In the face of these new realities, the theme for the World Economic Forum on East Asia is Responding to New Uncertainties. Although ASEAN now has an economic blueprint and charter, Japan holds the G8 presidency, and the economic influence of China and India continues to rise, the need for a common agenda in East Asia to address the key regional and global challenges is unequivocally pressing.

In this context, this year’s World Economic Forum on East Asia will explore in depth the many facets of the region’s economic, social and political transformation in the face of new challenges. The programme for this meeting will be designed to generate insight and guide action to improve the alignment of the region’s industrial, political and economic agendas. The programme is organized under four thematic pillars to help you make the most of this opportunity to shape Asia's future agenda. The pillars are: Asian Leadership, Global Risks, Sustainable Growth and Competitiveness.

Asian Leadership

Examine how Asia is shifting the global power equation and the implications of taking on a larger leadership role in addressing the major issues reshaping our world.
• Global Economic Leadership: Is Asia in the Driver’s Seat? (Opening Plenary)
• Asia Empowered: The Future Impact of Global Governance
• Asia’s Leadership Paradox: The Challenge of a Networked World
• Protecting Globalization: A New Leadership Role for Asia?
• Responding to New Uncertainties   (Closing Plenary)

Global Risks

Explore which global risks need to be managed prudently in the context of Asia’s future growth, regional integration and international relations.
• Global Risks on Asia’s Agenda (Asia Forum Plenary)
• Addressing Asia’s Emerging Security Dilemma
• The Globalization of Finance: What Are the Systemic Risks Ahead for Asia?
• Unsustainable Trends: The Impact on Asia 

Sustainable Growth

Examine how policy-makers and CEOs are adapting to a changing political and business environment.
• Fears Over Food and Fuel: Can Asia Manage the Political Costs of Inflation? (Asia Forum Plenary)
• Clean Water: Managing Asia’s Most Valuable Resource
• Corporate Global Citizenship: Its Future Role in Asia 
• The Currency Conundrum: Can Asia Compete with a Weak Dollar?

Competitiveness

Explore how private-sector and public institutions are developing the hard and soft infrastructure needed to improve prospects for business and economic growth.
• Delivering a Governance Dividend for Asia (Asia Forum Plenary)
• Collaborating While Competing: Is There an Asian Model?
• The Future of Asia’s Centres of Transformation 
• The Myths and Realities of the R&D Advantage 

 
About the Programme

There are two session formats:

• Asia Forums are held in the morning and are plenary sessions open to international and local media (therefore on the record) and specially invited guests. The sessions are filmed by our host broadcaster. All are conducted in an interview format with a panel of distinguished guests giving brief opening comments followed by a panel discussion (with simultaneous interpretation).

• Interactive sessions are private, peer-to-peer, facilitated discussions in a boardroom setting for World Economic Forum participants only. They are conducted in parallel, are closed to the reporting press and are off the record (with simultaneous interpretation).

Global Growth Company (GGC) Tracks include a selection of sessions of particular relevance to companies experiencing hyper-growth and engaging in international expansion. GGC Track sessions are an integral part of all Forum regional meeting programmes. Where appropriate, the output of each will be incorporated into subsequent GGC Track sessions in the build-up to the Annual Meeting of New Champions 2008 in Tianjin, People’s Republic of China, which will take place on 25-27 September 2008. More information is available at:
http://www.weforum.org/en/events/AnnualMeetingoftheNewChampions/index.htm