Collaborating Organization:
U.S.-ASEAN Business Council

Supporting Organizations:
American Indonesian Chamber of Commerce
U.S.-Thailand Business Council
Malaysia Industrial Development Authority
Philippine American Chamber of Commerce
Fund for Reconciliation and Development

Program Overview
This conference will explore the larger economic drivers behind the ASEAN Economic Community initiative: What recent initiatives have Asian governments taken to develop a greater economic cooperation in the Asian region? What is the status of an Asian regional bond market, in regards to its push towards a single and common currency? Would this fulfill the region's objectives to reduce the reliance on external sources of funding, remove currency distortions and promote intra-regional cooperation? What role would the private sector, governments and the international community play? What impact would a regional bond market have for investors? Will Asian Central Bank-led initiatives hedge against the rising economic power of China? What are the prospects for further integration of the ASEAN+3 economies? How have ASEAN leaders responded to the Southeast Asian Free Trade Zone initiative? What is the state of the ASEAN-Japan relationship, specifically regarding trade and economic interdependency? Could the development of a regional bond market soothe growing trade imbalances, and political friction, between Asia and the U.S.?

View the complete list of Speaker Biographies or click on the speaker's name in the agenda below.

Draft Agenda:

5:00 pm
Conference Registration

5:30 pm
Keynote Address: ASEAN's Economic Community Developments
Invited: ASEAN Finance Minister/Central Bank Governor

5:45 pm
Panel: Imperatives of ASEAN's Economic Integration
Confirmed Speakers
Rajat Nag, DG, Mekong Regional Department, Asian Development Bank
John Chambers, MD and Deputy Group Head, Sovereign Ratings, Standard Poor's
Lora Western, Foreign News Editor, The Wall Street Journal

6:45 pm
Reception

7:30 pm
Program Adjourns

To register (credit card orders only)
Asia Society/Collaborating Orgs Members $25; Nonmembers $40
An academic/NGO rate is available upon request.
Please print and fill out the registration form, then fax to 212-517-8315.
You may also contact the Asia Society Box Office by phone: 212-327-9276 (M-F 10am to 5pm).
Email: boxoffice@asiasoc.org

*Guest List Closes April 23, 12:00 pm
All cancellations for refunds must be received by this date. NO SHOWS WILL BE BILLED.

For program information, contact:
William Robison
Asia Society, Policy and Business Programs
725 Park Avenue New York, NY 10021
Tel: 212-327-9303; Email: williamr@asiasoc.org

Related Standard & Poor's Publications:

A Guide to the U.S. Loan Market (240kb PDF)

Credit FAQ: Foreign/Local Currency and Sovereign/Nonsovereign Ratings Differentials
(105kb PDF)

Emerging Market Issuance: Giddy Times (186kb PDF)

Sovereign Defaults: Heading Lower Into 2004 (514kb PDF)

How Domestic Capital Markets Can Help Sovereign Creditworthiness (90kb PDF)

China (People's Republic of) (219kb PDF)

Pakistan (Islamic Republic of) (209kb PDF)

Thailand (Kingdom of) (177kb PDF)

Speaker Biographies

John B. Chambers is a managing director at Standard &Poor's, Credit Market Services division. Since 1997, he has been deputy head of Standard &Poor's Sovereign Ratings Group. The group is responsible for the firm's ratings on 93 central governments, a score of multilateral and sub regional development banks, and over two dozen national development banks, import-export banks, and other public policy financial institutions. Mr. Chambers is the chairman of the group's sovereign rating committee. This committee, which consists of senior sovereign analysts, sets and changes ratings for the governments and financial institutions under the group's responsibility. In addition, Mr. Chambers oversees the group's analytical work on structured finance, supranational institutions, as well as the departments' work on sovereign rating and outlook stability and on global financial system stress. He has led Standard &Poor's ratings teams frequently in Latin America, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. Before joining the Sovereign Ratings Group, from 1993 to 1997, Mr. Chambers led Standard & Poor's efforts in expanding its ratings among Latin American financial institutions. He wrote frequently on the subject of the contingent liabilities posed by financial systems to the sovereign. Before joining Standard &Poor's, Mr. Chambers worked for Banque Indosuez from 1986 to 1993. He was posted to Paris from 1989 to 1992, where he was a sous directeur and assistant comptroller. He returned to New York as a first vice president for Banque Indosuez, in charge of its departments for credit financial institutions, and private placements. Before Banque Indosuez, Mr. Chambers worked in the international department of European American Bank, rising to the rank of Vice President from management trainee. Mr. Chambers is a chartered financial analyst. He has his masters of arts from Columbia University in English literature and his bachelor of arts from Grinnell College in English literature and philosophy.

Rajat M. Nag is the Director General, Mekong Department of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). He assumed the position in January 2002. As Director General of the Mekong Department, Mr. Nag is responsible for implementing the strategic agenda of ADB in Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand, Viet Nam, and the Greater Mekong Subregion. Mr. Nag is a Canadian with 30 years of professional experience. He joined ADB in 1986 as Project Economist in the Agriculture Department. After 4 years, he transferred to the Programs Department (West) and was assigned to Nepal Resident Mission from 1991 to 1994. He held various senior positions in ADB's Programs Department (West) and in the Financial Sector and Industry Division, Infrastructure Department (West). In 2001, Mr. Nag was a member of the management committee that formulated proposals for the reorganization of ADB operations. He was appointed as Deputy Director of the Programs Department (West) in May 2000 and then as Director General of the Mekong Department under the reorganized structure of ADB in 2002. He started his professional career at Canada's central bank, the Bank of Canada, where he worked for 5 years as an Economist/Financial Analyst. Prior to joining ADB, he worked as an Energy and Water Resources Planning Specialist with an international consulting firm; his last position being Chief Economist of a large multidisciplinary team on a River Basin Planning study in Indonesia. Mr. Nag has degrees in Engineering (Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi and University of Saskatchewan, Canada), Business Administration (University of Saskatchewan, Canada), and Economics (London School of Economics, United Kingdom).

Lora Western is foreign news editor of The Wall Street Journal. She has
worked on the Journal's foreign desk in New York since 2000. Before that she
was deputy managing editor of The Asian Wall Street Journal in Hong Kong.
Altogether she spent 13 years as a reporter and editor in Asia, based in
Hong Kong and Taiwan. She is a graduate of Northwestern University's Medill
School of Journalism.