Heads
of major regional and multinational businesses,
media leaders, economic experts and government
leaders will meet in Hong Kong for the 10th annual
East Asia Summit. The meeting will take place in
from the 29 to 31 of October.
The
summit is one of the World Economic Forum's regional
summits. These summits comprise integrated meetings
in all key regional markets including India, China,
Mexico, the Mercosur economic alliance, South Africa,
Europe, the United States and East Asia. The summits
offer leaders the opportunity to learn and share
expertise on the most crucial issues affecting
economic development and business outlook in their
region.
"The World Economic Forum is the only
non-governmental institution committed to integrating
Asia into the global economy in all spheres," said
Frank-Jurgen Richter, Director for Asia at
the World Economic Forum in a statement. "The
Forum is able to facilitate the exchange of
experiences and expertise between business,
government and civil society, in the interests
of economic and social development in East
Asia."
The
theme for the East Asia Summit this year
is "Reversing the Downturn: Preparing
Asia's Growth Agenda." Following the global
economic slowdown, East Asia's economic recovery
has also slowed. The process of corporate restructuring
and national economic reform has to be reevaluated
to ensure sustained growth for the region.
Another important issue on the agenda is the
need to leverage opportunities presented by
the second wave of the information technology
and communications revolution. E-commerce promises
boosted productivity and increased efficiency
to the region, but must be placed in the context
of the lessons learned from the burst of the
Internet bubble a year ago.
"We will focus special attention on strategies
to manage in the downturn -- from crisis management
to entrepreneurship in the large organization
-- as well as bring attention to young change-makers
and leaders who are reshaping the way the region
operates," said Richter.
The five co-chairs for the summit are: Ronnie
C. Chan, Chairman of the Hang Lung Development
Company; Philip M. Condit, Chairman and Chief
Executive Officer (CEO) of The Boeing Company;
Richard A. Grasso, Chairman and CEO of the
New York Stock Exchange; Nobuyuki Idei, Chairman
and CEO of the Sony Corporation; and Jaime
Augusto Zobel de Ayala II, President and CEO
of the Ayala Corporation.
There will be a series of discussions, or
'mini-summits' held during the summit. These
include a discussion with Asia's central bankers
on monetary integration, a discussion with
heads of Asian Stock Exchanges on the future
of Asia's financial markets and a summit with
leaders from Hong Kong Shenzhen and Guangdong
to discuss the Pearl River Delta.
"Asia has the strength to recapture its
growth trend and East Asia Economic Summit
2001 will highlight the key issues and strategies
to make this energy come to the fore," said
Richter.
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