Asia Regional Integration Center

In his welcome remarks to the two-day conference Restructuring Beyond the Subprime that opened 19 September, ADB President Kuroda urged regulators and central banks to coordinate efforts to maintain the region's financial stability in the face of the banking turmoil in the US. He said Asia appears better cushioned to withstand the immediate effects of the turmoil, but warned that vulnerabilities and risks remain. Read the speech and news release.

Antoni Estevadeordal of the Inter-American Development Bank will discuss trade agreements in Latin America and the Caribbean versus Asian regionalism highlighting, among others, the interplay between regionalism and multilateralism, overlapping trade agreements, and scenarios for potential convergence. Confirm participation with Ms. Liza Cruz at mlscruz@adb.org, please state the organization you represent.

26 August 2008, 10:30-11:45 a.m., Auditorium Zone D, ADB HeadquartersNorbert Walter of Deutsche Bank will discuss the implications of prevailing trends and policies on growth and inflation across the globe. He sees weaker momentum in 2009 as Asian economies will be forced to tighten policies to combat above-target inflation. Confirm participation with Ms. Liza Cruz at mlscruz@adb.org, please state the organization you represent. Seats are limited.

Mr. Jairam Ramesh, India's Minister of State for Commerce and Power, will speak on India's role in Asian economic integration, and the costs and benefits of regional integration for India. Confirm participation with Ms. Liza Cruz at mlscruz@adb.org, please state the organization you represent. Seats are limited.

Prof. Shang-Jin Wei, Columbia University, decomposes various country inputs into PRC’s exports. He finds a high-level of foreign content in exports suggesting, among others, that the trade surplus with the US might not be as large as normally expected. Please confirm participation with Michael Cokee at maacokee@adb.org.

Prof. Shang-jin Wei, Columbia University, sheds new light on the extraordinary high savings rate in PRC. He uses sex ratio imbalance to attribute the rise in the savings rate which contributes to the large current account surplus and fast-rising foreign exchange reserve. Please confirm participation with Michael Cokee at maacokee@adb.org.

Eisuke Sakakibara, Professor at Waseda University and more famously Mr. Yen, discusses the collapse of finance, its resultant world recession and impact on Asian economies. Please confirm participation with Liza Cruz at mlscruz@adb.org.

Hans-Joachim Voth, Professor at Universitat Pompeu Fabra, discusses the challenges of an Asian currency union from a historical perspective of the Asian silver standard in the early 20th century. Confirm with Liza Cruz at mlscruz@adb.org. Financial market responses to the crisis and future structural changes (19 May 2009, 2:00-3:00, Auditorium Zone A, ADB Headquarters)Ruben Lee, CEO of the Oxford Finance Group, will assess some issues in financial markets including regulatory and market responses to the crisis, stock exchange integration, and cross-border clearing and settlement. Confirm with Pia Perez. Noritaka Akamatsu, 5469