2010 Asia Pacific Round Table

Under the theme of “The Prospects of Regional Economic Development and Southeast Asia”, the 2010 Asia Pacific Round Table was held on November 13-15,2010, at the Federal Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, attended by 32 delegates from 11 countries, representing: Cambodia, Fiji, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, USA and Vietnam.

The meeting was opened by Datuk Hasan bin Malek, Deputy Minister of Rural and Regional Development of Malaysia. Two sessions were organized. Session One was on the “Southeast Asia and China”. Session Two was on the “Southeast Asia and Taiwan”.

Session One was chaired by Mr. John Wood, CEO of the Auckland Institute of Studies in New Zealand. The panelists were: Dr. Lai Kuan Fook of Malaysia, General Federico Ruiz of the Philippines, and Dr. Dusit D. Puathasnanon of Thailand.

Session Two was chaired by Mr. Simon K.C.Hu, President of the China Society of Singapore. The panelists were : Dr. Victor Leow of Malaysia, and Mr. Hsieh Wen-huang of Taiwan.Senator Mean Sam An of Cambodia was the guest speaker.

The Conclusion session was chaired by Dr. Tai Wan-chin, Vice President of Tamkang University in Taipei, co-chaired by Mr. Hemendra Nagin, CEO of the Sherani & Co., a respectable law firm in Fiji. The guest speaker was Mr. David K.P. Liu, Deputy Representative of Taipei Economic & Cultural Office in Malaysia.

During presentation and discussion, it was pointed out that (1) Through its economic opening policy, China is now moving on to another Golden Time. (2) The merge of China and ASEAN into one free trade zone, will have a great impact on the global economy. (3) Taiwan, with its high technology know how, has a role in the regional economic development. (4) The signing of the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) between mainland China and Taiwan is helpful for peace development in the region.