Harvard University’s Southeast Asia Trek 2012

22 May 2012 – Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

The Harvard graduate students from the Kennedy School of Government visited Vietnam, Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand on a trek (Harvard lingo for a study trip). The theme of the trek is a “Cross-country comparative view on how countries in Southeast Asia develop sustainably and escape the middle-income trap.”

The study trip is a comparative study of how countries in Southeast Asia tackled the two biggest challenges of economic development (avoiding the middle-income trap) and sustainable development (in the face of climate change).

CARI hosted eight participants of the Harvard Southeast Asia Trek in Kuala Lumpur from 23-24 May, 2012. The mid-career graduate students learned about the importance the press with chief editor of the New Strait Times, Dato Syed Nazri. They also explored the financial landscape of ASEAN during discussions with Dato Lee Kok Kwan, Deputy Group Chief Executive Officer and Head of Corporate Banking, Treasury & Markets and the Head of Human Resources, Puan Hamidah Naziadin. The Trek participants also gained a deeper understanding of Islamic finance during a meeting with Muzaffar Hisham, CEO of Maybank Islamic Berhad. They also covered logistics, by taking a tour of the AirAsia’s operations at the Low Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT). During the CARI-Harvard dialogue, CARI CEO, John Pang led the discussion on future of ASEAN, regional integration, and the importance of emerging leaders in Asia. Before departing from KL, the Trek participants dined with the members of the Young Corporate Malaysians, laying the groundwork for potential partnerships down the road.

John participated at a panel discussion at the Accelerated Universal Bankers (AUB) Program

02 November 2011 | Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

The Accelerated Universal Bankers (AUB) Program is one of CIMB’s initiatives designed to build a team of ASEAN-centric Universal Bankers. The modules are geared to equip the group’s high performing managers with a range of skills and abilities to enable them to lead diverse teams from various backgrounds, countries and cultures, and ultimately thrive in ASEAN’s banking space.

Nanyang Technological University (“NTU”) is CIMB’s programme partner, and the course is conducted at NTU’s campus in Singapore.

On November 2nd, the program focused on doing business in ASEAN and invited banking specialists from Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore shared their insights on their respective countries with the participants. The day ended with a panel discussion which featured the country specialists, and John Pang, Chief Executive Officer of CARI.

The panel generated a rich discussion on CIMB’s links with ASEAN’s integration agenda, the financial landscape in Indonesia and Malaysia, and how CIMB can continue to operate successfully in its core markets. The forum was moderated by Prof. Gunter Dufey from NTU.

John Pang moderated the Panel Discussion on ASEAN Capital Market Integration at the Conference of the Malaysian Institute of Accountants

02 November 2011 | Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA) in collaboration with the ASEAN Federation of Accountants (AFA) organised the MIA International Accountants Conference and the 17th AFA Conference on 2nd and 3rd November at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre.

John Pang (CEO, CARI) moderated a panel discussion titled “ASEAN Capital Market Integration and its Impact towards Global Community” which discussed the AEC’s goal of economic integration by 2015, issues and challenges of implementing the blueprint, and ways for ASEAN to contribute to the global community.

Other panellists were Securities Commission Malaysia Managing Director Datuk Ranjit Ajit Singh, AFA president Abdul Rahim Abdul Hamid, ASEAN Economic Community Department director Dr Somsak Pipoppinyo and Malayan Banking Bhd deputy president and Group Chief Financial Officer Khairussaleh Ramli.

CARI attends the first Asian Central Banks’ Watchers Conference

01 November 2011 | Nanning, China

Themed “Corporate ASEAN in the New World Order”, the conference was an opportunity to listen to the perspectives of the region’s most influential policy makers and corporate captains on ASEAN’s prospects as a new economic force and how they stand to benefit from the high levels of growth in the region.

John Pang (CEO of CARI) moderated a panel titled “Realising AEC 2015 – The Role of Corporate ASEAN”. Panellists included Patrick Walujo, Chief Executive Officer of Northstar Pacific (Philippines), Chew Gek Khim, Executive Chairman of The Straits Trading Company (Singapore), Chartsiri Sophonpanich, President of Bangkok Bank (Thailand) and Dato’ Sri Nazir Razak, Chief Executive of CIMB Group.

John Pang moderated the Panel Discussion on Realising the AEC at CIMB’s ASEAN Conference 2011

27 October 2011 | Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

ASEAN businesses need to change their mindset and governments should play a more active role in breaking down barriers to cross-border trade, according to panellists at a plenary session entitled, “Realising AEC 2015 – the Role of Corporate ASEAN”. The session was held in conjunction with the inaugural CIMB ASEAN Conference on 27 October 2011.

Themed “Corporate ASEAN in the New World Order”, the conference was an opportunity to listen to the perspectives of the region’s most influential policy makers and corporate captains on ASEAN’s prospects as a new economic force and how they stand to benefit from the high levels of growth in the region.

John Pang (CEO of CARI) moderated a panel titled “Realising AEC 2015 – The Role of Corporate ASEAN”. Panellists included Patrick Walujo, Chief Executive Officer of Northstar Pacific (Philippines), Chew Gek Khim, Executive Chairman of The Straits Trading Company (Singapore), Chartsiri Sophonpanich, President of Bangkok Bank (Thailand) and Dato’ Sri Nazir Razak, Chief Executive of CIMB Group.

Nazir Razak – Cross-border constraints

Cross-border trade in ASEAN still face constraints, according to Nazir. “I think that is one of my biggest frustrations”, he stressed. ASEAN, he added, needed to give substance to the fact that “we are one region”, and support ASEAN companies venturing across borders.

Lacking that support, Nazir has spearheaded the formation of the ASEAN Business Club (ABC). ABC will facilitate between corporates and ASEAN governments and also provide networking opportunities for business leaders.

Nazir outlined the vision of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) as building ASEAN as a global hub and promoting ASEAN ownership of regional companies. “We want to help create national interest in ASEAN”, he said, adding that “we need to ask the hard questions about AEC 2015 now. Without preparation, ASEAN integration will be pushed back”.

Patrick Walujo – Indonesia offers great potential

Indonesia’s relative economic openness as a result of the Asian financial crisis has led to a sense of revival in the country, Walujo said. However, Indonesia’s corporates do not look beyond the domestic market and needed to be shown the clear advantages of embracing market openness, he added. Indonesia has also seen an increase in overseas competition in certain sectors, like automotive.

Chew Gek Khim – Singapore needs to learn to work with ASEAN companies

Singapore’s companies are too Western-centric in outlook and approach, according to Chew. “With that legacy, we now find it easier to do business with the West because we have learned to adapt to their cultures and practices,” she said. Despite ASEAN’s potential, Singapore needed to learn from scratch on how to do business with its ASEAN neighbours, she added. Chew said the current financial crisis in the West will be an impetus for Singaporean companies to look to ASEAN, “simplybecause anybody who is doing business can see the long-term potential.”

Cezar Peralta Consing – Narrow gap between winners and losers

While ASEAN integration is a good thing, how winners will compensate losers has to be addressed too, according to Consing. ASEAN could also learn from Europe’s mistakes. “We have the opportunities to learn from those mistakes and I think the model here should be better because it is more confined, it is within a smaller geographic region”, he explained.

CARI attends the 6th Pan-Beibu Gulf Economic Cooperation Forum

18 – 19 August 2011 | Nanning, China

Started in April 2004, the Asia-Pacific Business Forum (APBF) discusses emerging trade and investment opportunities, and promotes cooperation and dialogue between the public and business sectors. It also provides a platform for networking and forming partnerships among the business community in the Asia-Pacific region.

Organized in collaboration with the Joint Standing Committee on Commerce, Industry and Banking of Thailand, the Asian Development Bank, the Greater Mekong Sub-region Business Forum, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, the International Business Leaders Forum, the Global Business Initiative on Human Rights and Mekong Institute, the 8th APBF 2011 is a major event of the 2nd Trade and Investment Week to be held during July 25-29 2011 in the United Nations Conference Centre (UNCC), Bangkok, Thailand.

Expected Outcomes
The APBF 2011 identifies economic drivers to assist the Asia-Pacific region in reaping the benefits of globalization, including integration through participation in global value chains, trade agreements and corporate social responsibility While the Forum explores emerging trade and investment opportunities after the economic crisis, it provides a platform for networking and forming partnerships among the business community in the Asia-Pacific region. It is strategically planned to enhance cooperation and dialogue between the public and business sectors, in particular, for the small-and-medium enterprises (SMEs).

Speakers and Participants
Over 300 participants are expected to attend the APBF 2011, including CEOs, ministers, senior policy makers, business leaders and experts from the private sector and representatives from international aid and development agencies.

CARI Conversation II – What Does It Take To Create A Community? Part 2

14 July 2011 – Jakarta, Indonesia

After the successful launch CARI Conversations – a series of dialogues between opinion makers, policymakers, government officials and business leaders on ASEAN’s economic community building efforts – CARI held the second Conversation in Jakarta on July 14th 2011.

Taking the advice of Ambassador Ong during the first Conversation, we continued to ask “What does it take to create a Community?” This time CARI Conversations featured an expert panel with Datuk Dr. Reza Y. Siregar, Basham Professor of Asian History, Australian National University, Australia; Mr. Iman Pambagyo, Director of ASEAN Cooperation, Ministry of Trade, Indonesia; Mr. Meidyatama Suryodiningrat, Editor in Chief of The Jakarta Post and Mr. Pushpanathan Sundram, Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN, the AEC, ASEAN Secretariat.

The dialogue noted the role of the private sector for real integration and the importance of regional integration for global competitiveness. Datuk Dr. Reza stressed that ASEAN can no longer be merely a policy nor a politically driven community but must now be primarily market driven. The private sector must be the driver and not the ASEAN Secretariat nor the central banks. He also compared ASEAN to other emerging economies and acknowledged that ASEAN loses out in competitiveness relative to India and China since they operate as single economies. Datuk Dr. Reza said that ASEAN has to regroup and work together; otherwise ASEAN countries are not going to be able to compete in their backyard yet alone globally.

Mr. Pushpanathan agreed with Dr. Reza saying that the lesson for ASEAN over the last 40 years is that ASEAN needs to come together to face global changes and challenges and stay relevant in a global context. He continued commented on how we can bring the ASEAN region closer together: “connectivity is going to be very important for ASEAN, how do we connect ourselves by road, by rail, by air, by marine time, at the same time looking at trade facilitation like customs, ASEAN single window, or harmonisation standards, simplification of standards, sanitary measures and so on. The institutional part is going to be very important, and of course the other part we can’t forget is people to people, because ASEAN community is about people, and here the people I’m talking about for the economic community are the businesses. They are going to be very important.”

Mr. Meidyatama suggested that the business community is already on its way towards ASEAN integration: “the business community has established an ASEAN community of sorts even without all these economic cooperation and economic agreements. Journalists have established their own community within the ASEAN parameters. Civil society organisations have established their own communities so this is sort of a side bar project, an unintentional product of ASEAN which was there, it was facilitated, it was never planned, it just happened by itself”.

Mr. Iman emphasised the governments need to make ASEAN relevant and credible by ensuring that ASEAN is good for businesses, and that the member governments deliver on their promises to prepare their economies for the ASEAN Economic Community in 2015.

CARI attended the ASEAN and Malaysia in 2030 Country Consultation Meeting

2 June 2011 | Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

The closed-door meeting was by organised by ASEAN and ADBI and was hosted by ISIS. It was a roundtable format which applied the Chatham House rules – this generated a rich discussion.

The purpose of this meeting was to seeks Malaysia’s perspective as a member of ASEAN on:

1. Structural changes required to ASEAN countries to reach the status of developed economies by 2030
2. The long-term role and impact of ASEAN and its major dialogue partners – especially the U.S., Japan, China, and India – as the region moves toward greater economic integration over the next 20 years.

The results from the meeting will feed into ADBI’s report on “ASEAN 2030: Growing Together for Shared Prosperity” which should be published by the end of 2011. This study will consist of 20 background papers featuring country perspectives and thematic issues focused on economic aspects, but also politics, security, and international relations dimensions.

CARI Conversation I – What Does It Take To Create A Community? Part 1

01 June 2011 | Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

CIMB ASEAN Research Institute (CARI) had on 1 June 2011 launched its first of many CARI Conversations – a series of dialogues between opinion makers, policymakers, government and business leaders. The initial topic of discussion was, “What does it take to create a Community?”

This series offers a highly focused forum for dialogue on ASEAN’s economic community-building efforts.

The panelists included: Datuk Dr. Rebecca Fatima Sta Maria, Secretary General, Ministry of International Trade and Industry, Malaysia; Dr. Donald Emmerson, Director, Southeast Asia Forum, Stanford University; Ambassador Ong Keng Yong, Director, Institute for Policy Studies, National University of Singapore; and Dr. Anthony Milner, Professor of Asian History, Australian National University.

The dialogue noted that ASEAN was at the halfway mark of its programme to build an economic community by 2015. The dialogue assessed the progress made to date, challenges encountered, and ways to bridge the gap between conception and execution of the ASEAN secretariat’s plans.

Datuk Dr. Rebecca acknowledged the perception that ASEAN was not moving fast enough. She described vigorous efforts underway at the official level and outlined the ASEAN Scorecard which measures how each country was complying with the AEC Blueprint. Datuk Rebecca said “there is political will to see this through; it now needs to be translated into actions that are measurable, and that’s what we need to do with the Scorecard.”

Dr. Anthony Milner said, “Somehow you’ve got a blockage here. How do you reach out to the business community… the answer goes beyond economics”. In that context he discussed history of the notion of sovereignty in Southeast Asia, noted how recent it was, and called for a recovery of our shared identity.

In that respect, Ong agreed with Milner, Asean’s saying, “While the issue at hand is an economic community, the solution involves more than economics. We also need to address cultural identities.”

Emmerson suggested that the solution relied on creative ambiguity in defining community, as well as a willingness to realise that a perfect community is an ideal. He said, “It is an endless process, and we can only work towards making significant progress”. Emmerson questioned why there were not some quick wins such as a single SIM-card use-able across ASEAN.

The discussion ended with a promise for future dialogues, as CARI continues to engage and place more focus on the private sector’s participation in building an ASEAN economic community.

CARI attends the 6th Pan-Beibu Gulf Economic Cooperation Forum

18 – 19 August 2010 |  Nanning, China

The Forum on Pan Beibu Gulf Economic Cooperation (PBGEC) represents China’s newest initiative for sub regional cooperation with ASEAN, the focus of which is to create coastal industrial areas, making the most of the strategic position of Pan-Beibu Gulf as the largest sea gateway which is closest to ASEAN.

The forum took place on August 18-19 in Nanning, China.