Seminar & Events

On December 9th, JETRO, together with the World Bank and the Asahi Shimbun, held an international symposium in Tokyo as part of celebrations for JETRO’s 50th anniversary. East Asian integration has been discussed in many seminars, workshops and symposia both in Japan and abroad, with questions mainly focused on its economic aspects such as the formation of industrial clusters, transnational business networks, and institution building. This symposium examined East Asian region-making comparatively and in a broader perspective, looking at the changing distribution of power and wealth in the region, ASEAN and ASEAN plus integration, issues of regional governance, demographic changes and transnational movement of people, sub-regional integrative processes, and soft balancing of individual countries. It is often argued that East Asian regional integration, powered and led by a rising China, will eventually lead to the formation of a Sino-centric regional order or that East Asia Community-building is impossible given the differences in political regimes, economic development, religion and culture/civilization across the region. We revisited this question, come up with different ways to understand the region making and examine how Japan is and should be engaging the processes. Keynote speakers included Dr. Peter J. Katzenstein of Cornell University, Dr. Vikram Nehru of the World Bank and Dr. Surin Pitsuwan, ASEAN Secretary-General. Other speakers for individual sessions included: Dr. Manolo Abella of the International Labor Organization, Dr. Jiro Okamoto of IDE-JETRO and Mr. Isamu Wakamatsu of JETRO. Following the presentations, speakers engaged in a panel discussion moderated by Dr. Takashi Shiraishi, President, IDE-JETRO. JETRO offers its sincere gratitude to the distinguished speakers and to the more than 400 audience members – for making the event a confirmed success.

December 9th, 2008, (Thursday) 13:00 －18:25 （Open 12:15）

Tsuru-no-ma, 1st floor, Hotel New Otani　
(Kioi-cho 4-1,Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo）

Simultaneous interpretation of Japanese & English and sign language are available.

JETRO, World Bank, Asahi Shimbun

JETRO or IDE-JETRO Members, Students:3,000 yen
Non-members:4,000 yen

500

Contact: External Relations Division, IDE-JETRO 3-2-2 Wakaba, Mihama-ku, Chiba-shi, Chiba 261-8545 TEL: 043-299-9536 FAX: 043-299-9726) E-mail：sympo-sc