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Roundup: Summit Highlights Asia's Stability, Growth
Over 800 business and government leaders from Asia and the world gathered Monday in Hong Kong at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center to discuss stability and growth in Asia in the coming year in response to the world economic recession.
This was the 10th East Asia Economic Summit of the World Economic Forum (WEF), and the participants focused their efforts on issues how to confront the regional recession fueled by the global economic downturn and restart growth.
As the terrorist attacks of September 11 changed the world, the impacts of the event on Asia, Asia's role in the "war on terrorism " and the regional stability are naturally becoming the most prominent issues that have caught the attention of the business leaders and government officials who participated in the summit.
Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo put particular emphasis on the issue of battling terrorist activities in her keynote address presented at the opening of the three-day summit.
Dealing with terrorism and international cooperation to lift the world economy from the brink of recession are two priorities in East Asia, Arroyo said.
Participants also believed that Asia had already been hit by the global downturn when the attacks of September 11 intensified the strains on the region's economies. With the exception of China, economic recovery has stopped and many of the needed reforms and structural changes have not been implemented, they felt.
As a result, the resources Asia can find to grow, the policies to keep reform on track, and global trends that dominates the region's development in the next five years have become the topics that dominate the summit.
Regional economic observers to the summit thought that Asia needs for sound economic and financial policies to put the regional growth back on track. They urged governments to support the corporate sector without undermining policies and to use the downturn to reinforce the infrastructure for economic competitiveness.
In the first day's discussion, participants also explored for more effective measures to draw foreign direct investment to enhance financing growth in the years ahead. The discussion in the following two days will be focused on education for innovation, Asian industry, IT as East Asia's growth engine, corporate governance, the region's stock markets, the 2nd round of telecom revolution, the regional monetary cooperation, biotechnology and the new trade round as well as China's economic emergence.
During the summit, a combination of high-level political dialogues, sessions to foster joint policy initiatives and workshops for business people to formulate action plans for sustainable growth in the future will be held.
Invest Hong Kong, a department responsible for attracting investment to Hong Kong under the government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, is the host partner for the summit.
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