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Creating a New Agenda for Asian Integration
Tokyo, Japan, 15-16 June
日本語
Read the Post-summit report
From the meeting:
 World Economic Forum on East Asia sets regional priorities
Achieving energy efficiency and security
Competitive challenges require faster Japanese reform
Go regional but not at the expense of global responsibilities
Japanese Premier welcomes World Economic Forum on East Asia
Asian Turnarounds: gradualism or shock therapy?
Corporate Asia: who is climbing the value added ladder?
Forum on East Asia told that “new century belongs to Asia”
Friday 16 June
 World Economic Forum on East Asia sets regional priorities
Participants at the World Economic Forum on East Asia have identified top priorities for the region. They are:
- to create or assign regional institutions to discuss energy, security and environmental issues;
- to address the impact of Indian and Chinese growth on the future competitiveness of South-East Asia;
- to increase energy efficiency in major consuming countries and industries; and
- to sustain Japan’s recovery while cutting its fiscal deficit and to resolve Japan’s historical and territorial disputes with China and Korea.
More than half of the 300 top business, government and civil society leaders at the meeting, which was held under the theme of “Creating a New Agenda for Asian Integration”, pinpointed the issues of paramount concern for the region. They chose from issues listed under four sub-themes – “integration and identity”, “competitiveness and creativity”, “security and sustainability” and “regional change: Japan”.
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 Achieving energy efficiency and security
Hassan Marican, President and Chief Executive Officer, PETRONAS (Petroliam Nasional), Malaysia; Co-Chair of the World Economic Forum on East Asia, enumerated the many difficulties facing oil producers and the risks they pose to global energy supplies. While the world has enough reserves to last it at least through this century, he said, almost three-quarters of those reserves are owned by national governments that increasingly prefer to develop them without the aid of major oil companies.
Summary
 Competitive challenges require faster Japanese reform
Japan’s recovery from its “lost decade” of economic growth has come thanks to impressive and painful but regrettably incomplete reforms, senior government and business leaders told participants at the ea East Asia today. Addressing the challenges posed by the rapid rise of China and India in the global economy will require that Japan’s next government seize the opportunity to increase the pace with which they internationalize Japan, its industries and workforce.
“Japan has changed enormously in the last five years, but did we change sufficiently? The answer is no,” said Heizo Takenaka, Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications and for the Privatization of the Postal Services of Japan. “The world is changing very fast and proactive reform is in order. We have only begun.”
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 Go regional but not at the expense of global responsibilities
Even as East Asian countries integrate, they should not ignore their global responsibilities, Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman, World Economic Forum, told participants on the second and final day of the World Economic Forum on East Asia. During a plenary session on regional integration, Schwab called for more attention to be paid to global issues. “The challenge we have in the 21st Century is to reconcile our global, national and regional identities,” Schwab said. “The key will be to make sure we keep up to our global responsibilities.”
Earlier, Schwab had expressed concern that current global institutions are not able to meet the challenges posed by the range of risks the world faces today. “We concentrate too much of our efforts on regional institutions instead of really focusing on where there is a need – on the construction of global institutions. We do not have the global structures in place. Practically all our organizations are construction sites.”
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Thursday 15 June
 Japanese Premier welcomes World Economic Forum on East Asia
Junichiro Koizumi, the Prime Minister of Japan, welcomed World Economic Forum on East Asia participants to his official residence, the Kantei, on the opening day of the meeting. He welcomed everyone to what he called the 'Asian Davos' - and said that it was an honour to host the Forum's East Asia meeting for the first time in Japan.
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 Asian turnarounds: gradualism or shock therapy?
The wide variety of turnaround experiences described by panelists demonstrated that there is no one approach to restructuring among Japanese firms. Yorihiko Kojima, President and CEO of Mitsubishi Corporation, described how his company had to literally change its stripes and become a different business, focusing on areas such as logistics, finance and marketing.
Panelists also said that the Japanese emphasis on job preservation while boosting performance could offer lessons for companies around the world.
Summary
 Corporate Asia: who is climbing the value added ladder?
Asian companies must be innovative not only with the products and services they provide but also with how they deliver them and manage their operations, agreed panellists in a session devoted to corporate Asia at the World Economic Forum on East Asia.
“The notion that companies in Asia are winning market share only on cost is obsolete,” declared meeting Co-Chair Nandan Nilekani, President, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Infosys Technologies, India.
“We tend to think of innovation in terms of products and patents. But it’s also about business models and processes. Anything that allows faster or better solutions for customers is what it’s all about.”
Asian companies are also redefining their roles in the global marketplace, according to Lee Boon Yang, Minister of Information, Communications and the Arts of Singapore. Companies such as Korean electronics maker Samsung and Singapore’s Hyflux, which is developing membrane technology for water treatment, demonstrate that investment in R&D is crucial to promoting innovation, he said. Zhang Xiaoqiang, Vice-Chairman, National Development and Reform Commission, People’s Republic of China, added, “R&D investment allows companies to improve their competitiveness.”
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 Forum on East Asia told that “new century belongs to Asia”
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.”
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Co-chairs
Hassan Marican, President and Chief Executive Officer, PETRONAS (Petroliam Nasional Bhd), Malaysia
Henry A. McKinnell, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Pfizer Inc., USA
Kunio Nakamura, President, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., Japan
Nandan M. Nilekani, President, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Infosys Technologies Ltd., India
Martin Sorrell, Group Chief Executive, WPP, United Kingdom
Junichi Ujiie, Chairman, Nomura Holdings Inc., Japan
Yun Jong-Yong, Vice-Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Republic of Korea
For more information, please contact:
EastAsia@weforum.org
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