APEC’s Role in the Evolving Asia-Pacific Order

This event is part of the series Exploring APEC’s Role in Facilitating Regional Cooperation.

Ever since its informal beginnings in late 1989, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum has been a central hub for economic engagement and cooperation around the Pacific Rim, both shaping and being shaped by developments in the region over an extraordinary period of trade and economic expansion.  As leaders from 21 APEC member economies prepare to meet in San Francisco in November, we will explore APEC's evolution over its three-decade-plus history to consider both its role and contributions in the Asia-Pacific region to date, as well as explore its challenges and relevance in the region going forward.  Is APEC still hitting its regional economic cooperation target and how might APEC better achieve its goals?

Amb. Kurt Tong, Managing Partner, The Asia Group; Former U.S. Ambassador for APEC; Former U.S. Consul General and Chief of Mission in Hong Kong and Macau

Ambassador Kurt Tong is Managing Partner and member of the Executive Committee at The Asia Group, where he leads consulting teams focused on Japan, China, and Hong Kong, and on East Asia regional policy matters. He also leads the firm’s innovative thought leadership programs. A leading expert in diplomacy and economic affairs in East Asia, Ambassador Tong brings thirty years of experience in the Department of State as a career Foreign Service Officer and member of the Senior Foreign Service.

Michael Beeman (Moderator), Former Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Japan, Korea and APEC at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative; Visiting Scholar at Shorenstein APARC

Michael Beeman is a Visiting Scholar during 2023 at Shorenstein APARC. Previously, he served as Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Japan, Korea, and APEC at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR). In that role, he led the renegotiation of the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement and the U.S.-Japan Trade Agreement, among other initiatives. After joining the U.S. government in 1998, he served in various other capacities for the Department of Commerce, for the U.S. Executive Director to the World Bank, and for USTR. He received his D.Phil. (Ph.D.) in Politics from the University of Oxford in 1998 and is the author of Public Policy and Economic Competition in Japan (Routledge, 2002).

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