Asia Regional Integration Center

Agenda

Wednesday, 22 August 2018
Day 1

• Opening Ceremony

  Moderator:
  Dushni Weerakoon, Acting Executive Director, Institute of Policy Studies (IPS)

  • 08:30—
    Welcome Remarks
    Shiro Armstrong, Director; Fellow, Australia-Japan Research Centre; East Asian Bureau of Economic Research; Crawford School, Australian National University
    Bio

    Shiro Armstrong is an Economist and Fellow at the Crawford School of Public Policy. He is Director of the Australia-Japan Research Centre, Editor of the East Asia Forum, Director of the East Asian Bureau of Economic Research and Research Associate at the Center on Japanese Economy and Business at the Columbia Business School.
    
    Shiro is a recipient of an Australian Government Endeavour Research Fellowship, Gary Saxonhouse Prize Fellowship for Japanese Economics, Crawford Award for best research paper on the Japanese Economy, Japan Foundation Fellowship, Pacific Trade and Development Conference (PAFTAD) Fellowship, Vice-Chancellor’s Staff Excellence Award for Public Policy and Outreach and twice the Vice Chancellor’s Award Innovation and Excellence in Service Quality.
    
    He has been a Visiting Fellow at the Center on Japanese Economy and Business at Columbia University, the John F Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, China Centre for Economic Research at Peking University and the University of Tokyo.
  • 08:40—
    Keynote Speech
    Professor Andrew Leigh, Shadow Assistant Treasurer and Federal Member for Fenner, ACT, Australia
    Bio

    Andrew Leigh is the Shadow Assistant Treasurer and Federal Member for Fenner in the ACT. Prior to being elected in 2010, Andrew was a professor of economics at the Australian National University. He holds a PhD in public policy from Harvard, having graduated from the University of Sydney with first class honours in Law and Arts. Andrew is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Social Sciences, and a past recipient of the ‘Young Economist Award’, a prize given every two years by the Economics Society of Australia to the best Australian economist under 40.
    
    His books include Disconnected (2010), Battlers and Billionaires (2013), The Economics of Just About Everything (2014), The Luck of Politics (2015), Choosing Openness: Why Global Engagement is Best for Australia (2017) and Randomistas: How Radical Researchers Changed Our World (2018). Andrew is a keen marathon runner, and hosts a podcast titled "The Good Life", which is available on Apple Podcasts.
    
    Andrew is the father of three sons - Sebastian, Theodore and Zachary, and lives with his wife Gweneth in Canberra. He has been a member of the Australian Labor Party since 1991.
  • 09:00—
    Opening Remarks
    Bambang Susantono, Vice President, Asian Development Bank
    Bio

    Bambang Susantono is the Vice-President for Knowledge Management and Sustainable Development of the ADB. He assumed the position in July 2015. Mr. Susantono is responsible for management of ADB’s Sustainable Development and Climate Change Department, Economic Research and Regional Cooperation Department, and Department of External Relations. Prior to this, Mr. Susantono was the Vice-Minister of Indonesia’s Ministry of Transportation and Deputy Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development. He has extensive experience providing policy advice to government, private sector organizations and international institutions. He was also Member of the Board for airline, port, telecommunications and media companies. He chaired several research institutes including the Center for Sustainable Infrastructure Development of the University of Indonesia. He actively engaged in various researches, wrote books and journal articles, and taught in universities. His areas of expertise are infrastructure planning, urban and regional development, and project finance. He served as the President of Indonesia Intelligent Transport Society; Vice President of East Asia Society of Transportation Studies based in Tokyo, Japan; and a member of the Board of Trustee of the SouthSouthNorth Foundation in Johannesburg, South Africa. Mr. Susantono holds a PhD in Infrastructure Planning and master’s degrees in Transportation Engineering, and City and Regional Planning from the University of California Berkeley. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from the Bandung Institute of Technology.

• Session 1: Regional Economic Outlook

  Moderator:
  Shiro Armstrong, Director; Fellow, Australia-Japan Research Centre; East Asian Bureau of Economic Research; Crawford School, Australian National University
  Bio

  Shiro Armstrong is an Economist and Fellow at the Crawford School of Public Policy. He is Director of the Australia-Japan Research Centre, Editor of the East Asia Forum, Director of the East Asian Bureau of Economic Research and Research Associate at the Center on Japanese Economy and Business at the Columbia Business School.
  
  Shiro is a recipient of an Australian Government Endeavour Research Fellowship, Gary Saxonhouse Prize Fellowship for Japanese Economics, Crawford Award for best research paper on the Japanese Economy, Japan Foundation Fellowship, Pacific Trade and Development Conference (PAFTAD) Fellowship, Vice-Chancellor’s Staff Excellence Award for Public Policy and Outreach and twice the Vice Chancellor’s Award Innovation and Excellence in Service Quality.
  
  He has been a Visiting Fellow at the Center on Japanese Economy and Business at Columbia University, the John F Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, China Centre for Economic Research at Peking University and the University of Tokyo.

  • 09:10—
    Regional Economic Outlook
    Cyn-Young Park, Director, Regional Integration and Cooperation Division, Asian Development Bank
    Bio Presentation

    Cyn-Young Park is Director of the Regional Cooperation and Integration Division in the Economics Research and Regional Cooperation Department of the ADB. In her current capacity, she manages a team of economists to examine policy issues related to regional cooperation and integration (RCI) and develop strategies and approaches to support RCI. Her team also produces the Asian Economic Integration Report, an annual publication on the progress of regional economic integration and policy challenges. During her progressive career within ADB, she has been a main author and contributor to ADB’s major publications including Asian Development Outlook (ADB’s flagship publication), Asia Capital Markets Monitor, Asia Economic Monitor, Asia Bond Monitor, and ADB Country Diagnostic Study Series. She has also participated in various global and regional forums including the G20 Development Working Group, Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), ASEAN+3, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), and Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM). She has written and lectured extensively about the Asian economy and financial markets. Prior to joining the ADB, she served as Economist (1999-2002) at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), where she contributed to the OECD Economic Outlook. She received her PhD in Economics from Columbia University, and bachelor’s degree in International Economics from Seoul National University.
  • 09:30—
    Economic Outlook of the People’s Republic of China
    Qiangwu Zhou, Director General, International Economics and Finance Institute, PRC
    Bio Presentation

    Qiangwu Zhou is Director-General of International Economics and Finance Institute (IEFI), the Ministry of Finance, China. Under his leadership, IEFI provides strategic and overarching perspectives on global and domestic issues in the economic and financial fields to MOF and other government agencies of China. Before working in IEFI, he has over 15 years’ working experience in the budgetary departments and the International Department in the Ministry of Finance of China, during which he was assigned to work in the Chinese Permanent Mission to the United Nations and the World Bank Chinese ED’s Office.
    
    He has several publications under his name on the world and domestic economy.
  • 09:50—
    Economic Outlook of Australia
    Adam Triggs, East Asian Bureau of Economic Research, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University
    Bio Presentation

    Adam Triggs is the Director of Research at the Asian Bureau of Economic Research at the Crawford School of Public Policy. Formerly a visiting researcher at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., Adam is published in leading economics journals and is a regular contributor to the Australian Financial Review, The Conversation, East Asia Forum, The Monthly, Huffington Post and other Australian and regional publications. In previous roles, Adam worked as an economic policy advisor to the Shadow Assistant Treasurer of Australia, the Hon. Andrew Leigh MP, and is a former advisor at Prime Minister and Cabinet on the global economy and the G20. He is a former consultant at the Cape York Institute and a former mergers and acquisitions analyst at the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. Adam holds a bachelor’s degree in law, a bachelor’s degree in economics, a master’s degree in international economics and is completing a PhD in macroeconomics.
  • 10:30—
    Photo Session and Coffee Break
    

• Session 2: Expert Presentations: Upgrading Human Capital and Skills Development

  Moderator:
  Zaw Oo, Executive Director, Center for Economic and Social Development
  Bio

  Zaw Oo is Executive Director of the Centre for Economic and Social Development, an independent think-tank dedicated to inclusive development in Myanmar. Previously, he was the Presidential Economic Advisor from 2012-2016, serving as a principal advisor on finance, industry, commerce and labour issues. In 2012, Zaw Oo contributed to the Framework of Economic and Social Reform, a strategic policy framework for guiding comprehensive reforms in Myanmar from 2012 to 2015 and subsequently, assigned to negotiate a historic decision of Paris Club in cancelling 60% of Myanmar’s debt.
  
  He is presently a member of National Minimum Wage Setting Committee as well as an independent advisory member in several inter-ministerial committees such as pulses, rubber, fishery and a few other taskforces. He holds graduate degrees from Columbia University and American University in international development, finance and banking, and political economy and a certificate from Harvard University. He also taught at Chiang Mai University from 2006 to 2011.

  • 11:00—
    Introduction: Upgrading Human Capital and Skills Development for Future Asia
    Aiko Kikkawa Takenaka, Economist, Asian Development Bank
    Bio Presentation

    Aiko Kikkawa Takenaka is Economist at the Economic Research and Cooperation Department of the Asian Development Bank. She covers research portfolio of labor migration and remittances, aging and demographic changes, and regional research collaboration. From 2001 to 2010, she was with the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and served as the Head of Labor Migration Unit in Manila, the Philippines, overseeing projects and activities in the area of labor migration and remittances. Ms. Kikkawa Takenaka obtained her Ph.D. in International Development Studies /Development Economics from National Graduate Institute of Policy Studies, Japan, and Master’s degree in Forced Migration from University of Oxford, UK.
  • 11:15—
    Financing Higher Education
    Bruce Chapman, College of Business and Economics, Australian National University
    Bio Presentation

    Bruce Chapman is an economist and has worked at The Australian National University since 1984. He has extensive experience in public policy, including: the motivation and design of the Higher Education Contribution Scheme (the first national income contingent loan scheme using the income tax system for collection) in 1989; engagement with the empirical and conceptual basis related to long-term unemployment leading to the Working Nation program in 1994; as a senior economic advisor to Prime Minister Paul Keating, 1994-96; as a higher education financing consultant to the World Bank and the governments of Thailand, Papua New Guinea, Mexico, Canada, the UK, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Malaysia, Colombia, the US, Chile and China, 1996-2013; as a consultant to the Bradley Review of Australian Higher Education on student income support, 2008; and as a consultant to the Australian Government’s Base Funding Review, 2011.
    
    He has published over 200 papers on a range of issues, including income contingent loans, long-term unemployment, the meaning of job flows data, the economics of crime, the economics of cricket, fertility, marital separation and government as risk manager. Over the last several years he has convened conferences, and written extensively, on the application of income contingent loans to a host of social and economic reform issues, such as for the financing of drought relief, low level criminal fines, elite athlete training, paid parental leave, white collar crime, community based investment projects, Indigenous business investment, and for taxing the brain drain.
    
    He was elected to the Academy of the Social Sciences of Australia in 1993, received an Order of Australia in 2003 for contributions to economic policy, and was elected President of the Australian Society of Labour Economics (2004-07) and President of the Economics Society of Australia (2007-13). He was made Distinguished Fellow of the Economics Society of Australia in 2015. He is quite friendly, excessively modest and is a tenacious, fanatical and mediocre bridge player.
  • 11:45—
    Competitive Adjustment and Social Protection
    Danielle Wood, Director, Budget Policy and Institutional Reform Program, Grattan Institute
    Bio Presentation

    Danielle Wood has extensive experience in advising on economic policy issues. Her research and advocacy efforts focus on tax and budget policy, intergenerational inequality and competition policy. Previously, Danielle worked at the ACCC as the Principal Economist and Director of Merger Investigations, as a Senior Consultant at NERA Economic Consulting and as a Senior Research Economist at the Productivity Commission.
    
    Danielle has a Masters of Commerce (Hons) and a Masters in Competition Law (Hons) from the University of Melbourne and a Bachelor of Economics (Hons) from the University of Adelaide. She is the National and Victorian Chair of the Women in Economics Network. She sits on the Victorian and Central Council for the Economic Society of Australia.
  • 12:15—
    Discussant:
    Shujaat Farooq, Additional Director General, Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) and Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE)
    Bio

    Shujaat Farooq, an economist, holds a PhD in Economics from the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE). Currently he is working in Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), the largest Social Safety Nets (SSN) in Pakistan, as Director Additional Director General Monitoring and Evaluation (on deputation from PIDE). He has been remained affliated with research and academic institutes as previously he serviced in PIDE as Senior Research Economist and remained part of faculty in National University of Science and Technology). He also served in Ministry of Finance and World Bank. Dr. Farooq has extensive experience in research and policy work in the diversified disciplines of economics i.e. poverty, education, labor and rural economy. He has been involved in various national policy formulations including rebasing of official poverty line, vision 2025 and National Socio Economic Registry up-dation. He wrote several papers, published in well-known national and international journals. He has also supervised numerous students in their MS Dissertations.
  • 12:30—
    Lunch Break
    

• Session 3: Country Paper Presentations Part 1: Jobs, Skills Gap, and Skills Development

  Moderator:
  Dushni Weerakoon, Executive Director, Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka
  Bio

  Dushni Weerakoon is the Executive Director of the Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka (IPS) and Head of its Macroeconomic Policy research. Her research and publications have covered areas related to regional trade integration, macroeconomic policy and international economics. She has extensive experience working in policy development committees of the Government of Sri Lanka, as a consultant to international development organizations, and as a director on the boards of corporate and academic entities in Sri Lanka. She holds a BSc in Economics from the Queen’s University of Belfast, U.K., and an MA and PhD in Economics from the University of Manchester, U.K

  Paper Presentations:

  • 13:30—
    Changing Task content of Jobs in India: Implications and Way Forward
    Pankaj Vashisht, Senior Fellow, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations
    Bio Paper Presentation

    Pankaj Vashisht is a Senior Fellow at Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER). He specializes in the field of Labour Economics and Applied Econometrics. He has more than 12 years of experience in policy oriented research. He has worked closely with policy makers in India both at center and state level. He has also conducted research studies for various international organizations such as The World Bank, Asian Development Bank Institute, Elcano Royal Institute and Indian industry associations such as Auto Component Manufactures Association (ACMA) and Society of Indian Auto Manufactures (SIAM). Dr. Vashisht is recipient of ‘Young Scholar Grant’ to attend the ‘38th NBER Summer institute’ held in Cambridge USA in 2015. He holds a PhD in Economics from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.
    
    He has done substantial work on the implications of International Trade and Technology up-gradation for jobs and Skills in India. Dr. Vashisht has numerous publications which include a book on the competitiveness of Indian auto Industry, half a dozen chapters in edited volumes, several papers in refereed national and international journals and working papers. He has also contributed articles to the popular print media. Dr. Vashisht is widely travelled and has presented his research at various international conferences abroad.
  • 13:50—
    Labor Market and Skills Gap in the ICT Sector in Bangladesh: An Exploratory Study
    Monzur Hossain, Senior Research Fellow, Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS)
    Bio Paper Presentation

    Monzur Hossain obtained his Ph.D. in International Economics, an M.A. in Public Policy (Economics) from the National Graduate Institute for Policy studies (GRIPS), Tokyo, Japan. He has participated and served as team leader in numerous professional research projects. He served as consultant for the UNDP, ADB, UNCTAD, EU, International Growth Center, London School of Economics etc. He is highly experienced in conducting performance assessments and impact evaluations for such organizations as UNDP, World Bank, Bangladesh Bank, USAID and the Government of Japan. He had international experience of working at the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI), Tokyo and Graduate School of International Development, Nagoya University, Japan as Visiting Scholar. With extensive focus on economic policies, his research interests mainly concentrate towards Macroeconomics, International Trade and Finance, Local government finance, ICT sector, Industrial development (RMG, SME etc.) and Banking and Financial Sector. He has published extensively in reputed academic journals including Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Applied Economics Letters, Journal of Asian Economics, Journal of Developing Areas, Bangladesh Development Studies etc. He has good experience of presenting papers in many national and international conferences in the USA, UK, Japan, Singapore, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, China, Hong Kong etc. Currently Dr. Hossain is a Senior Research Fellow at the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS)—a premier autonomous research institute in Bangladesh.
  • 14:10—
    Policies to Meet the Future Demand for Science and Technology Workers in Sri Lanka
    Nisha Arunatilake, Director of Research, Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka
    Bio Paper Presentation

    Nisha Arunatilake is the Director of Research and a fellow at the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) of Sri Lanka. She has considerable post-doctoral experience in conducting policy related economic research in labour market analysis, education, public finance and health. Her work is published in both local and international journals, book chapters and reports. She has collaborated with, and has been a consultant to bilateral and multi-lateral donor agencies. She is a research associate of the Commitment to Equity (CEQ) Institute of the Tulane University of New Orleans, USA and a Research Fellow of the Partnership for Economic Policy (PEP). She has served in National Level Committees on labour, employment, human resource development, migration, health sector reform, and tobacco and alcohol policy formulation. Nisha Arunatilake holds a BSc in Computer Science and Mathematics with summa cum laude from the University of the South, USA and an MA and PhD in Economics from Duke University, USA.
  • 15:10—
    Coffee Break
    

• Session 4: Policy Panel: Building Human Capital and Skills in Asia, Models, Policies, Issues and Challenges

  Moderator:
  Aniceto Orbeta, Senior Research Fellow, Philippine Institute for Development Studies
  Bio

  Aniceto C. Orbeta, Jr. is Senior Research Fellow at the Philippine Institute for Development Studies. His research interests include education and labor market issues, impact evaluation, applied economic modeling and information and communication technologies. He did post-doctoral studies at Harvard University and a Ph.D. in economics at the School of Economics, University of the Philippines.

  • 15:30—
    Panellists:
    

    • Radhicka Kapoor, Senior Fellow, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations
      Bio
      Radhicka Kapoor is a Senior Fellow at the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER). Prior to joining ICRIER, she worked at the Planning Commission and at the International Labour Organization, Geneva. Her broad areas of research interests include poverty and inequality, labour economics and industrial performance. She holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the London School of Economics, a Masters degree from Cambridge University and a Bachelors degree from St. Stephens College, University of Delhi.
    • Xiaoyan Qian, Deputy Director General, Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, PRC
      Bio
      Xiaoyan Qian is currently the Deputy Director-General of the Department of International Cooperation, MOHRSS. She was the First Secretary (Labour Attache) on Policy at the Embassy of People’s Republic of China in the United States during early 2012 to June, 2017. Prior to that, she held various assignments at the International Cooperation Department including Director of the Division of International Staff and International Treaty, Director of the Division Technical Cooperation and Deputy Director of the Division of Overseas Employment. She started her career with the MOHRSS in 1996, working in the Department of General Affairs .
      
      She holds Master Degree in Economics from Renmin University of China (1996) and Master degree of Arts from Oxford University (2005). She got her Doctor degree of Law from Tianjin Nankai University in 2008.
      
      She was married and has one daughter.
    • Carunia Firdausy, Professor of Economics, Centre for Economic Research-Indonesian Institute of Sciences (P2E-LIPI)
      Bio
      Carunia Mulya Firdausy currently works as a Research Professor at the Economic Research Centre, Indonesian Institute of Sciences (P2E-LIPI), Jakarta. He also serves as a Professor of Economics at the Faculty of Economics, University of Tarumanagara, Jakarta.
      
      After returning from his Masters study of Agricultural Economics Development (MADE) at the Australian National University (ANU), Master of Economics at University of New Castle, Australia, and PhD program at the Faculty of Economics and Commerce, University of Queensland in 1993, He occupied several executive positions in various organizations. His first executive position was as Special Adviser for the State Secretary in charge of writing Presidential speeches in economic areas (1995-1997) during New Order era. Other executive positions that he has held included Director of the Economic Research Centre, P2E-LIPI (1996 — 2001), Special Adviser for Indonesia’s National Defense Council (Wantannas) for economic affairs (2001-2002), member of the Joint Selection Team (JST) for the Australian Development Scholarships administered by Australian Aid (1996-2008), Chairman of Transportation Technology and Management Committee at the Office of the Minister of State for Research and Technology (2005-now), National Chairman for ASEAN Committee on Science and Technology (ASEAN COST, 2005-2010), President of Non-Align Movement on Science and Technology (NAM’s S&T, 2005-2010) and as Deputy for Social Dynamics of the Minister of State for Research and Technology (2005-2010). He was also the executive chairman for Indonesia-Australia Alumni Reference Group, 2010-2013 and currently as the Indonesian coordinator for the East Asian Development Network (EADN), Manila, The Philippines and a member of ADB-Asian Think Tank Development Forum.
      
      Apart from his previous executive positions and long experiences in the government and non-government organizations, he is also very active in teaching and supervising master and Ph.D students in both private and state universities since 1993. His major study area of interest is in development economics and other related areas. Papers that he has published in international journals include the study on poverty in Indonesia, published by the Asian Development Review (ADB) in Manila and the Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies (BIES), Australia, International Journal of Critical Infrastructures to name just two. A number of books in English and Indonesian have also been widely published in several international and national economic publishers. He also has presented numerous papers in various international conferences held in Europe, USA, Africa, Asia and certainly in Indonesia. Please Google search or Google scholar or Scopus index (ID 6507821328) for his name for further details of his academics works. He can be reached at cmfirdausy@gmail.com
    • Orzala Nemat, Director, Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit
      Bio
      Orzala Nemat with a mission to bridge the academia and policy platforms, she lead Afghanistan’s top research think-tank (AREU) that is focusing on evidence based social research.
      
      She is a political ethnographer and her research focuses on political economy of governance interventions in conflict affected settings highlighting local governance relations in Afghanistan’s villages resulting from the policies of transnational/international institutions and central government’s development and political interventions.
      
      Her research interests include: Governance, Peace-building and Social Contract, Ethnography of Borderlands, ethnography of national policies, Gender and Development studies.
      
      Also interested in joining academic journal boards/advisory and role in mentioned fields.
  • 18:00—
    Wrap up
  • 19:00—
    Networking Dinner at University House (hosted by ANU)

Thursday, 23 August 2018
Day 2

• Session 5: Country Paper Presentations Part II

  Moderator:
  Khan Ahmed Sayeed Murshid, Director General, Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies
  Bio

  Khan Ahmed Sayeed Murshid was awarded a Ph.D. in 1985 by the Faculty of Politics and Economics, Cambridge University for his thesis on food policy. He has continued to work on food policy while at the same time branching out into a number of other research areas, including infrastructure and irrigation, informal and rural credit markets, agricultural markets and value chain finance, human resource development and policy research. He has published extensively in top development journals including the Bangladesh Development Studies, the European Journal of Human Development, World Development, Journal of Agrarian Change, Economic and Political Weekly and the Journal of Development Studies. He also has to his credit numerous other publications in the form of research reports, monographs and contributions to various edited volumes. Dr. Murshid combines extensive research experience with familiarity with a wide range of development settings in addition, including Bangladesh, sub-Saharan Africa, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Pakistan, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.

  Paper Presentations:

  • 09:00—
    Vocational Training and Labour Market Transitions: A Randomised Experiment Among Cambodian Disadvantaged Young Adults
    Chandarany Ouch, Economics Unit Head, Cambodia Development Resource Institute
    Bio Paper Presentation

    Chandarany Ouch is a Research Fellow and Head of Economics Unit at the Cambodia Development Resource Institute (CDRI). She joined CDRI since 2003 and she has been a project leader/member of various research projects and engaged in project management and collaborative research at national and regional levels. She currently leads project on: 1) “Vocational training and labour market transitions: A randomised experiment among Cambodian young adults”; 2) “The contribution of vocational skills development to inclusive industrial growth and transformation: An analysis of critical factors in Cambodia”; and 3) “Cambodia gender economic assessment”. She is also a coordinator of project on “Agricultural trade between China and GMS countries: Value chain analysis” and “Industry 4.0: Prospects and challenges for Cambodia’s manufacturing sector”.
    
    Her research interests include labour economics, experimental economics, development economics and applied microeconomics. She has published in the Journal of Comparative Economics and Population and Development Review and at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS), Singapore. Chandarany completed a PhD in Economics at Monash University, Australia. She also holds a Master in Public Policy from Lee Kaun Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore.
  • 09:20—
    The Role of Private Sector in Human Capital and Skill Development in Thailand
    Boonwara Sumano Chenphuengpawn, Research Fellow, Thailand Development Research Institute
    Bio Paper Presentation

    Boonwara Sumano Chenphuengpawn is Research Fellow Sectoral Economics Program (SEP) at the Thailand Development Research Institute. Some of her recent publication were Human Rights are becoming part of Trade Standard (12 October 2016); Let’s Demand more from Donations (10 Agusut 2016); Plugging the Public Information gap on the AEC (9 December 2015) and Panel Report Diffusion and the Future of EU-ASEAN Economic Relations. She holds a Doctor of Philosophy from the Queen of Mary, University of London, United Kingdom. Master of International Affairs from The Australian National University, Canberra Australia.
  • 10:00—
    Coffee Break

• Session 6: Country Paper Presentations Part III

  Moderator:
  Zakariah Bin Abdul Rashid, Executive Director, Malaysian Institute of Economic Research
  Bio

  Zakariah bin Abdul Rashid currently is the Executive Director of the Malaysian Institute of Economic Research (MIER) and an Emeritus Professor of Universiti Putra Malaysia. He was a Professor of Economics at the Universiti Putra Malaysia and had served as Head of Economics Department and Deputy Dean of School of Graduate Studies of the university. While serving the university he taught various economic subjects at undergraduate and post-graduate levels, supervised master and doctoral research works, published books and academic articles in local and international journals, delivered papers in seminars and conferences and edited journal articles. He is principle investigator to many research projects and consultant to many research institutes and local (MIER, EPU, UPENs (Selangor, Pahang, Kelantan, Perak, Negeri Sembilan and Johore)) and international (ASEAN Secretariat, ERIA, ESCAP, ADB, ADBI, UNIDO) organizations.
  
  He helped the Government of Malaysia, constructing Social Accounting Matrix, in formulating poverty and income distribution policy during the Ninth Malaysia Plan. Currently he serves as a member of National Wage Consultative Council and National Wage Consultative Technical Committee, assisting the Government of Malaysia in setting minimum wage. He is now developing CGE energy economics, ASEAN’s AEC and structural change of the Malaysian economy. He was a visiting fellow at the Chr. Michelsen Institute, Bergen, Norway. He constructed input-output tables for states of Selangor, Johore, Perlis and Negeri Sembilan and undertook Khazanah’s study on the contribution of GLCs on the national economy. He always being invited to deliver lectures in Malaysia and overseas on many current economic issues, quarterly macroeconomics monitoring; and in networking with regional research organizations (RINM, JETRO, DeFINE(OECD) and BRI). HE is an adjunct professor at UUM. He specializes in Development Economics and Regional Economics with special focus on Input-output Economics, CGE and SAM.
  
  His contact address is Malaysian Institute of Economic Research (MIER), JKR 606, Jalan Bukit Petaling, 50460 Kuala Lumpur, Tel: (606) 2242 5897, 2142 5895, Fax: (603) 2141 0131, email: zakariah@mier.po.my

  Paper Presentations:

  • 10:20—
    Overcoming Double Income Traps in Thailand and Myanmar
    Ngu Wah Win, Deputy and Migration Expert, Center for Economic and Social Development; Myanmar Coordination in Migration Management
    Bio Presentation

    Ngu Wah Win is presently working as senior policy coordinator at the Centre for Economic and Social Development, in independent thinktank dedicated to inclusive development in Myanmar. Ngu Wah contributed to many reform initiatives in Myanmar, including public financial management and tax reforms, agriculture value chain developments, labor market and migration governance, and housing and urban planning initiatives. In 2015, she worked for the Advisory Group of the National Disaster Management Committee, which produced a comprehensive damage and loss assessment jointly undertaken with the World Bank and several government ministries following the deadliest floods in Myanmar at that year. She is presently a member of Myanmar Statisticians Association, Agriculture Policy Unit and other inter-ministerial taskforce tasked with conducting policy analysis and research studies for the government. She holds the Master of Public Administration on Economic Policy Management from Columbia University as well as master degrees from Chiang Mai University and Yangon University of Economics.

• Session 7: Policy Recommendations and Way Forward

  • 11:30—
    Forum Summary and Recommendations
    

    • Venkatachalam Anbumozhi, Senior Economist, The Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA)
      Bio
      Anbumozhi Venkatachalam is a Senior Economist at the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA), Indonesia. His previous positions include Capacity Building Specialist and Senior Fellow at the Asian Development Bank Institute, Assistant Professor at the University of Tokyo, Project Manager and Senior Policy researcher at the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies, Assistant Manager at Pacific Consultants International, Tokyo and Research Associate at Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand. A distinguished fellow at the Asia Pacific Rim University (APRU) Forum on Development and Environment, he also advised ADB, JICA, JBIC, UNESCAP projects on sustainable development. He has published several books, authored numerous research articles and produced many project reports on natural resource management, climate friendly infrastructure design, and private sector participation in green growth. Anbumozhi was invited as a member of the APEC expert panel on Climate Finance, G20 Task Force on Green Finance on and the ASEAN panel for promoting climate-resilient growth. He has taught resource management, international cooperation and development finance at the University of Tokyo and has speaking engagements at some of the leading international organisations. He obtained his PhD from the University of Tokyo.
    • Aiko Kikkawa Takenaka, Economist, Asian Development Bank
      Bio
      Aiko Kikkawa Takenaka is Economist at the Economic Research and Cooperation Department of the Asian Development Bank. She covers research portfolio of labor migration and remittances, aging and demographic changes, and regional research collaboration. From 2001 to 2010, she was with the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and served as the Head of Labor Migration Unit in Manila, the Philippines, overseeing projects and activities in the area of labor migration and remittances. Ms. Kikkawa Takenaka obtained her Ph.D. in International Development Studies /Development Economics from National Graduate Institute of Policy Studies, Japan, and Master’s degree in Forced Migration from University of Oxford, UK.
  • 11:50—
    ATTN Way Forward
    Cyn-Young Park, Director, Regional Integration and Cooperation Division, Asian Development Bank
    Bio

    Cyn-Young Park is Director of the Regional Cooperation and Integration Division in the Economics Research and Regional Cooperation Department of the ADB. In her current capacity, she manages a team of economists to examine policy issues related to regional cooperation and integration (RCI) and develop strategies and approaches to support RCI. Her team also produces the Asian Economic Integration Report, an annual publication on the progress of regional economic integration and policy challenges. During her progressive career within ADB, she has been a main author and contributor to ADB’s major publications including Asian Development Outlook (ADB’s flagship publication), Asia Capital Markets Monitor, Asia Economic Monitor, Asia Bond Monitor, and ADB Country Diagnostic Study Series. She has also participated in various global and regional forums including the G20 Development Working Group, Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), ASEAN+3, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), and Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM). She has written and lectured extensively about the Asian economy and financial markets. Prior to joining the ADB, she served as Economist (1999-2002) at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), where she contributed to the OECD Economic Outlook. She received her PhD in Economics from Columbia University, and bachelor’s degree in International Economics from Seoul National University.
  • 12:00—
    Closing Remarks
    Shiro Armstrong, Director; Fellow, Australia-Japan Research Centre; East Asian Bureau of Economic Research; Crawford School, Australian National University
    Bio

    Shiro Armstrong is an Economist and Fellow at the Crawford School of Public Policy. He is Director of the Australia-Japan Research Centre, Editor of the East Asia Forum, Director of the East Asian Bureau of Economic Research and Research Associate at the Center on Japanese Economy and Business at the Columbia Business School.
    
    Shiro is a recipient of an Australian Government Endeavour Research Fellowship, Gary Saxonhouse Prize Fellowship for Japanese Economics, Crawford Award for best research paper on the Japanese Economy, Japan Foundation Fellowship, Pacific Trade and Development Conference (PAFTAD) Fellowship, Vice-Chancellor’s Staff Excellence Award for Public Policy and Outreach and twice the Vice Chancellor’s Award Innovation and Excellence in Service Quality.
    
    He has been a Visiting Fellow at the Center on Japanese Economy and Business at Columbia University, the John F Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, China Centre for Economic Research at Peking University and the University of Tokyo.
  • 12:10—
    Lunch Break