PASCN Participates in the 2021 Virtual APEC Study Centre Consortium Conference Hosted by New Zealand

PASCN Participates in the 2021 Virtual APEC Study Centre Consortium Conference Hosted by New Zealand

 

Dr. Rob Scollay, Lead Organizer of the 2021 ASCC Conference hosted by New Zealand, during the Opening on 01 July 2021. Photo taken by the PASCN Secretariat

 

The New Zealand APEC Study Centre at the University of Auckland organized a 2-day virtual APEC Study Centre Consortium (ASCC) Conference last 06-07 July 2021, 2:00pm to 5:00pm (New Zealand Time) via Microsoft Teams platform.

 

The event was attended by representatives from 20 economies namely: New Zealand, Russia, Thailand, Indonesia, Viet Nam, China, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Brunei Darussalam, Japan, South Korea, Australia, United States, Canada, Chile, Mexico, Peru, and Canada.

 

The 2-day virtual ASCC conference was hosted by Dr. Rob Scollay, Lead Organizer of the 2021 ASCC Conference, New Zealand, and had a total of 6 sessions with 20 presentations.

Meeting set-up during the 2021 ASCC Conference hosted by New Zealand. Photo taken by the host institute.

 

The first day was composed of 3 sessions with a total of 9 presentations. The event was opened by Dr. Craig Emerson, the Director of Australia APEC Study Center, and followed by an introductory presentation by Dr. Denis Hew of the APEC Policy Support Unit on APEC Regional Trends Analysis.

Dr. Craig Emerson, the Director of Australia APEC Study Center while giving his opening remarks. Photo taken by the PASCN Secretariat

 

The first session focused on Trade Issues in the Asia-Pacific Region, and was moderated by Dr. Anna Strutt of Waikato University. The topics presented are as follows:

  1. “Overlapping and Varied FTA Approaches in the Asia-Pacific” by Wang Zhongmei of Shanghai Institutes for International Studies;
  2. “Bolstering Supply Chains to Rebuild Global Trade” by Satvinderjit Kaur Singh of APEC Policy Support Unit;
  3. “How to cut services trade costs in the APEC Region: Challenges and Opportunities” by Jane Drake-Brockman of University of Adelaide; and
  4. “How will global value chains evolve with digital technology? Opportunities for disruptive innovation and leap-frogging” by Fukunari Kimura of Keio University.

 

Taken during the presentation of Satvinderjit Kaur Singh of APEC Policy Support Unit on “Bolstering Supply Chains to Rebuild Global Trade”. Photo taken by the PASCN Secretariat

 

The second session focused on Investment Issues in APEC and was moderated by Suphat Supachalasai of Thammasat University. The topics presented are as follows:

  1. “Macroeconomic gains from liberalizing foreign investment in APEC”by Tony Makin of Griffith University; and
  2. “Some Economic Effects of Foreign Ownership Restrictions”by Ng Ka Ho of APEC Study Centre, Chinese University of Hong Kong.

 

Taken during the presentation of Tony Makin Griffith University on “Macroeconomic gains from liberalizing foreign investment”. Photo taken by the PASCN Secretariat

 

The third session of the first day focused on Sustainable Development: Addressing Climate Change and was facilitated by Nigel Haworth of University of Auckland. The topics presented are as follows:

  1. “The Biden Administration and New Approaches to Sustainability” by Charles Morrison of East-West Centre;
  2. “The Effects of Climate Change on Income Inequality: Evidence from APEC Member Economies” by Wongi Kim of Sungshin Women’s University; and
  3. Progress towards the Sustainability of APEC Cities”by Zhu Li of APEC Sustainable, China

 

Taken during the presentation of Charles Morrison of East-West Centre on “The Biden Administration and New Approaches to Sustainability”. Photo taken by the PASCN Secretariat

 

The first day was attended by 18 presenters, 40 participants, and 5 representatives from the Philippine APEC Study Center Network (PASCN), namely: Dr. Manzano and Dr. Quismorio of the University of Asia and the Pacific (UA&P), Mr. Katigbak of the Foreign Service Institute (FSI), Ms. Carlos and Ms. Rosellon of the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS), and Dr. Gutierrez of Asian Institute of Management (AIM).

The second day also had 3 sessions with a total of 11 presentations. 2 presentations were given by representatives of PASCN from AIM and UA&P on the last session.

 

Moderator of the fourth session Haiping Zhang of University of Auckland while he introduces the presenters on the theme Digital Trade Issues. Photo taken by the PASCN Secretariat

 

The fourth session focused on Digital Trade Issues and was moderated by Haiping Zhang of University of Auckland. The topics presented are as follows:

  1. Data Sovereignty and Trade Agreements: Nailing Jello to the Wall?”by Henry Gao of Singapore Management University;
  2. Establishing Multilateral and Regional Rules on Digital Trade”by Shujiro Urata of Waseda University;
  3. “Optimizing e-commerce in APEC – Insights from PSU Study”by Andre Wirjo of APEC Policy Support Unit; and
  4. Does digitalization help employment stability during the COVID-19 pandemic? Evidence from Korean real-time survey data”by Seongman Moon of Jeonbuk National University, Korea.

 

Taken during the presentation of Suphat Supachalasai and Pasakorn Thammachote of Thammasat University on “Challenges and Ways Forward for Thailand’s Tourism Industry”.Photo taken by the PASCN Secretariat

 

The fifth session focused on Addressing the Covid-19 Challenge and was moderated by Rashila Ramli of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. The topics presented are as follows:

  1. “Passports, Tickets and Face Masks: Impacts ofCOVID-19 border measures on APEC cross-border mobility” by Jason Carlo Ong Carranceja of APEC Policy Support Unit;
  2. Challenges and Ways Forward for Thailand’s Tourism Industry”by Suphat Supachalasai and PasakornThammachote of Thammasat University; and
  3. “Public spaces resilience in a post Covid digital economy: A case study in a Latin American City”by Mario Chong of Universidad del Pacifico, Peru.

 

Taken during the presentation of Eylla Gutierrez from AIM “Re-examining gender and community entrepreneurship in the Philippines”. Photo taken by the PASCN Secretariat

 

The last session focused on Inclusive Growth and was moderated by Asha Sundaram of the University of Auckland. The topics presented are as follows:

  1. “Impact of COVID-19 on Economic Inequality inthe APEC Region: Localizing SDGs as a Policy Response In Malaysia” by Rashila Ramli, Sity Daud, and Noraini Md Yusof of Malaysian APEC Study Centre;
  2. “Analysis of a gender perspective incorporation in APEC Latin American members' economic stimulus packages to face the COVID-19 crisis” by Javiera Cáceres and Felipe Muñoz of Universidad de Chile;
  3. “Re-examining gender and community entrepreneurship in the Philippines”by Eylla Gutierrez and  Kazem Vafadari of AIM; and
  4. “Aligning higher education with demands for data science workforce”by Brenda Quismorio, Maria Antonette Pasquin, and Claire Tayco, collaboration study under PIDS.

 

Taken during the presentation of Brenda Quismorio from UA&P on  “Aligning higher education with demands for data science workforce”. Photo taken by the PASCN Secretariat

 

The second day was attended by 18 presenters, 34 participants, and 9 representatives from the Philippine APEC Study Center Network (PASCN), namely: Dr. Manzano and Dr. Quismorio (presenter) of UA&P, Mr. Katigbak of FSI, Ms. Carlos, Ms. Mantaring and Ms. Rosellon of PIDS, Dr. Gutierrez and Dr. Rivera of AIM, and Dr. Balboa (former PASCN Secretariat).

 

Dr. Scollay ended the event by highlighting his key take-away from the presentations. For the Philippines, he mentioned the importance of having a study on aligning higher education with the demands for data science workforce, and on re-examining gender and community entrepreneurship focusing on tourism which is one of the hardest hit sectors during the pandemic. He turned over the floor to the representative of APEC Study Center Network of Thailand for the next year hosting of ASCC Conference.

 

For more information on the event you may email Dr. Rob Scollay through the PASCN at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..