The Future of Asia conference on the theme “Asia Confronting Challenges - Pursuit of New Frontiers” was an inspiring experience that offered a broad and deeper understanding of the current issues confronting Asia in the globalizing world today. Various themes were presented, including Asia’s position amid the global economic crisis, the potential and impact of Asia as the world’s factory, the new diplomatic landscape of East Asia relative to the Obama Administration, and the business opportunities in Asia under an environmentally conscious society. The conference addressed many cooperative opportunities that are seemingly awaiting to be executed by Asian nations.
As a student participant, the panel discussions lead by heads of governments, national representatives, business leaders and specialists were very thought provoking. A particularly stimulating discussion was on the topic, ‘New Opportunities for Green Business’ which emphasized the need for sustainable development. The creation of ecological parks and environmentally friendly cities are still ideal yet, in Asia they are currently in the process of planning and construction. The project to transform Tianjin, China’s arid land into a resource efficient, socially harmonious and eco-friendly environment is one model that aims for a large-scale sustainable development. The word ‘sustainable development’, which we often come across today, aims to meet the needs of the future generations as well as preserving the present. It requires achieving carbon dioxide emission reductions, maintaining efficient use of natural resources and simultaneously developing and employing new energy generating technology in our daily lives. Hence, clearly these goals are costly and call for a tremendous amount of support from the public and national governments. Presented by Mr. Ko Keng Hwa, Keppel Corporation CEO, Tianjin’s eco-city is designed along the concept of being ‘applicable, replicable and scalable’ in different environments throughout the globe, meaning that they will become the pioneers for green business opportunity.
Regional cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region, such as the newly established Green Growth Network initiated by Korea aims to improve and enhance environmental efficiency while promoting the opportunity for economic growth and development. I believe that such regionally cooperating actors should scrutinize the progress of extensive projects that are beyond one country’s capacity and set an example as responsible investors for significant international development in the near future.
As innovators for growth, Asia has the capacity to initiate regional cooperation through active international talks. Regional cooperation will lead to mutual understanding and promote harmony among the geographically close states. Moreover, research on new energy generating technology should be conducted with efficiency through Asian inter-state cooperation so as to accelerate the development and prevalence of alternative energy resources. India with its young and optimistic population, China with its large and dependable labor force, Japan with its advanced technology and economic stability, as well as many other states in Asia with rapid economic growth and advancements can work together to seek for solutions. Since environmental responsibility lies in each individual, company, organization and country, we can only hope that the others will follow along after us.
The conference presented many other issues that require scrutiny in Asia such as the demand for regional free-trade agreements, and aggressive investment in education, new job opportunities, agriculture, transportation and infrastructure. Several speakers stressed the need for Asia to become free from the US dollar dependency, and there was suggestion for an Asian common currency for feasible intra-regional cooperation. Since there is limited time to achieve these innumerable goals, a cooperative alliance at both national and international levels is in desperate need. Public-private partnership as well as inter-state cooperation is desirable to confront inclusively the challenges facing Asia. I felt that the Future of Asia conference was a perfect setting where national representatives and business leaders come across face-to-face to discuss the most current issues to share their views and prospects, and I hope that effective action will be taken to counter the issues that were hotly debated.
