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IPS Seminar
"The Changing Trade and Industrial Landscape in the Asia-Pacific" |
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Dr Ganeshan Wignaraja
Principal Economist
Office of Regional Economic Integration
Asian Development Bank
Date: 8 December 2009, Tuesday
Time: 10.30 am to 12.00 pm (Registration begins at 10.15 am)
Venue: Seminar Room 2-3, Level 2, Manasseh Meyer Building, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (Location Map)
Dress Code: Office Attire
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| Synopsis: |
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Asia has rebounded fast from the depth of the global crisis, and exports and industrial production began to increase again. This is a big contrast compared to at the start of the global economic crisis, when output in most Asian countries, given their export-oriented economies, contracting by more than even those nations at the epicenter of the crisis. Asia’s impressive recovery from the global downturn, even as output and demand elsewhere remains sluggish, has prompted some observers to revive the notion that the region has “decoupled” from the rest of the world. What explains this remarkable comeback? What challenges does the recovery pose to Asian policymakers amid a more complex trade and industrial landscape ie one with a potential rise in protectionism, as well as with a more than ever proliferation of Free Trade Areas (FTAs) agreements in the region. What are the new and fresh thinking needed for future economic and industrial success in Asia? Dr Ganeshan Wignaraja, Principal Economist at the Asian Development Bank (ADB) will examine these issues and provide insights on the region's trade and industrial prospects. He would also analyses the implications of emerging policy issues, such as increased competition for foreign direct investments (FDIs) vis-à-vis spreading of production networks in the region, and the prospects for a Doha trade deal. |
| About the speaker |
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Ganeshan Wignaraja is a Principal Economist at the Asian Development Bank’s Office of Regional Economic Integration. He also represents ADB on the WTO Director-General’s Advisory Group on Aid for Trade. Over the last twenty years, he has managed multi-country projects, implemented strategic assignments, and conducted policy-oriented research on international trade, regional integration, economic competitiveness, technology and macroeconomic forecasting. Formerly, he was in London as Head of Competitiveness and SME Strategy at Maxwell Stamp PLC and Chief Programme Officer at the Commonwealth Secretariat. He has also held research positions at Oxford University, the OECD, the Overseas Development Institute and the United Nations Institute for New Technologies. He has published ten books including: Pan-Asian Integration (Palgrave Macmillan, 2009, Competitiveness Strategy in Developing Countries (Routledge, 2003) and the Postwar Evolution of Development Thinking (Macmillan and St Martins Press, 1991). His research was quoted in Time Magazine, the Financial Times and the Wall Street Journal. He has a doctorate in economics from Oxford University. |
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| For enquiries |
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If you have any queries, please contact Ms Lee Jia Yin at tel: 6516-8391 or email:
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