Asia Regional Integration Center

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Distinguished speakers, guests, ladies and gentlemen.


On behalf of the Asiatic Research Institute (ARI) at Korea University and the Korea International Economic Association (KIEA) as well as our partners—Asian Development Bank (ADB) and United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific: Subregional Office for East and North-East Asia (UNESCAP-ENEA)—it is my great pleasure to welcome you to this timely conference on regional integration and economic resilience.

First of all, I congratulate ADB for its 50th anniversary of establishment. I am very grateful and privileged that ADB agreed to be our partner and co-organizer for this event. 

Can Asia continue to achieve more resilient and more sustainable growth? This is a key question that this conference would like to address. There is no question that Asia’s standing in the global economy is stronger than ever. The region now produces about 40% of the world’s GDP, measured in purchasing power parity. During the recent global financial crisis, Asia accounted for more than half of global GDP growth. Add to that a massive population and growing political influence, and Asia finally appears open to so-called “the Asian Century”.

Despite growing positive signs from the upward trend of the US economy, the outlook for Asia remains uncertain. Protectionist measures and increase in US interest rate remain risk factors for the Asian economy. Shadow banking and corporate debt pose significant vulnerabilities and risks to the Chinese economy. Noting that in any case the region is unlikely to revert to its long-term growth potential as it had achieved prior to the global crisis without the support of a firm global recovery and tremendous efforts for improving structural weaknesses and productivity growth.

The latest global slump revealed the risks that the region may face from excessive openness and globalization. That over-dependency on external demand battered the region's exports and reduced capital inflows. There is no denying that the export-led growth has delivered enormous benefits for Asian economies, and will continue to do so for many years, but some economies in the region may have pursued export orientation strategy too excessively.

Against this backdrop, Asian economies must put in place safeguarding mechanism against excessive and unbalanced openness while embracing globalization. The region must thus try to make their economies more resilient through implementing a combination of policy measures that revitalize domestic demand and production as well as regional trade and investment.

Strengthening regional economic cooperation and integration will also benefit the whole Asia. The region itself is a large market which expands rapidly. Amid an emergence of nationalism and anti-globalization in the Western countries, intraregional trade and investment in Asia becomes more important than ever. Despite being deeply interdependent, however, the region’s countries still struggle to act collectively. Many cross-border issues, such as growing regional trade disputes and macroeconomic spillovers, justify deeper policy coordination. The region needs to continue to deepen and broaden economic integration and build a more durable cooperative framework that maximizes mutual benefits.

Over the course of the next two days, we will revisit some of these issues and more. I am confident that we will have interesting and fruitful discussions today and tomorrow. Thank you again for your participation and wish you all a stimulating conference.