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8 November 2010

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We arrived in Haneda airport in Tokyo in the morning, caught the bus and train to our hotel. We spent around three to four hours touring around the city of Yokohama. In the evening, we met a number of delegates from the other 21 APEC economies, followed by a full briefing by the educators and organisers of the Voices of the Future Conference.

9 November 2010

Yokohama bay - the APEC summits will be held in the sail like building. Today was the opening ceremony of the Voices of the Future programme at the Nissan headquarters. The guest of honour was Japanese Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ms Makiko Kikuta. Other speakers included Mr Hitoshi Kawaguchi, Senior Vice President of Nissan Moto Co, Ms Fumiko Kawaguchi, Mayor of Yokohama, Mr Teng Thend Dar, co-chairman of ABAC 2010, Muhamad Noor, Executive Director of APEC, and Mr Hideaki Watanabe, Corporate Vice President of Nissan Electronic Vehicle Division. We were shown a demonstration of the Nissan Leave (the fully electric vehicle), two Japanese smart houses and a whirlwind tour of the Japanese expo, fully equipped with talking robots!

10 November 2010 Phew what a day today. Today we attended the last special topic session and the closing plenary ofABAC the APEC Business

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Advisory Council. The morning session, attended by half of the group, was an important discussion on financial capacity building in the wake of the global financial crisis, while the afternoon was the closing plenary where ABAC members ensured the discussions and agreements were locked in.

Throughout the whole day we also had the opportunity to conduct a number of interviews with ABAC delegates from member economies. One highlight was the interview with Canadian ABAC member Paul Lee, former president of the largest game publisher in the world Electronic Arts, and now an accomplished venture capitalist investing in digital media start-ups. We also had a chance to have a friendly chat with David Kiu, senior manager of government relations at P&G and Sun Xiao, director of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade.

We also had the chance to take a few hours to explore the city of Yokohama. We were given a number of choices, such as exploring parts of Chinatown, strolling through the tranquil sakeien garden and going to the Sky Garden Yokohamas landmark tower to get a panoramic view of the city.

Traditional Japanese Green Tea

11 November 2010

Meeting with New Zealand ABAC members.

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We were up early today to meet the New Zealand ABAC members, Tony Nowell, Chair of the Trade Liberalisation Working Group at ABAC and former CEO of Zespri, alternate ABAC member, Stephen Jacobi, and ASB Bank Chairman, Gary Judd. It was a great hourlong chat about the importance of APEC: the significance of Japans desire to enter the Trans-Pacific Partnership, where Japans market would open up to the world for the first time this is especially relevant for New Zealand due to agricultural tariffs; the importance of a modern comprehensive free-trade area rather than a restrictive free trade agreement; and the importance of optimising the global supply/value chain. We were told that in the Asia Pacific region, US$325 million is lost every day of delays caused by non-business reasons such as tariffs and customs. We were all deeply grateful to the NZ ABAC members taking the time to speak to us and we have all learned a lot from it.

We spent the rest of the day attending the Small to Medium Enterprise (SME) Summit where a number of speakers covered topics on access to financing. This was followed by a three hour panel discussion on the importance of advancing women in modern Japan where many social and cultural issues were raised as obstacles for Japanese women today.

It has been another fruitful day, meeting lots of new people and learning lots of new things. We look forward to tomorrows CEO Summit where we will hear our very own Prime Minister John Key speak about the importance of regional economic integration in the Asia Pacific exciting! Stayed tuned!

12 November 2010 Today is the opening of the APEC CEO Summit of 2010, the most significant meeting of business leaders in the region. The morning sessions focused on the prospect of the global economy, how we can ensure strong, sustained growth following the economic crisis, and how Asia Pacific economies can contribute to global growth and prosperity. Donald Tsang, the Chief Executive of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of Peoples Republic of China, gave an impassioned speech about the importance of China as the driver of economic growth. And Simon Tay from Singapore reminded us we should not take sides between China and the US but work with both economies to create win-win trade relationships.

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APEC CEO Summit 2010

In the afternoon, we heard from Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet on the importance of ASEAN economic integration, followed by speeches from our very own Prime Minister John Key, where he warned that we should be careful of potential currency retaliatory wars. Philippines President Benigno Acquino III spoke of the importance of regional architecture in facilitating free-trade.

The highlight of the day was later in the afternoon where we had a 45 minute sit-down discussion with Prime Minister John Key. Mr Key spoke about the importance of avoiding currency valuation wars, inclusion of additional countries such as India, and what New Zealand needs to do to be competitive in the world. It was an extremely candid and friendly chat and we all left the room buzzing; feeling incredibly lucky as Kiwis that we have such immediate access to our leaders.

That concludes day five. Tomorrow is another hugely exciting day, with the line up of three of the most powerful men in the world: President Obama of the United States, President Hu of China and President Medvedev of Russia. We look forward to sharing this and more with you tomorrow.

13 November 2010

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Today is the last day of our APEC adventure, and what a way to finish! The day kicked off with Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan making an impassioned speech about the need for Japan to reform and stay relevant in the 21st century. Mr Kan went on to say Japan is ready to engage with other countries on free trade to tackle its slow-moving economy through increased competition and innovation. Mr Kan was followed by United States President Barack Obama. This was the last visit of a series of trips which President Obama made after the visit to India and Seoul for the G20 meetings. It was evident the disappointing results of the mid-term elections had an effect on him as President Obama framed Americas engagement with Asia as a job strategy. For example, the USA wants to export more goods to Asia and not vice versa. Although at face value Obamas speech didnt go down well with the audience, one important point to remember is that free trade is mutual and it is important for APEC to give Obama concrete results to ensure the continued support of his constituencies (and to avoid any tendencies of isolationism/protectionism). It was also interesting that the US president was the only leader that spoke on his own podium (with the seal of the US president).

Obama was followed by Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard who talked about the importance of ICT innovation. In particular, Ms Gillard emphasised the importance of cyber security. Interestingly, one development raised by Mr Mundie of Microsoft and Mr Nishide of Toshiba was the development of quantum cryptography. This technology would make it virtually impossible to crack open an encrypted message and was hailed as one of the potential breakthroughs in internet security.

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President Obama t APEC 2010

The last main speaker of the day was Chinas President, Hu Jintao. I couldnt help but noticed the thunderous applause when Mr Hu came and left stage and how this contrasted with the relatively muted response compared to Obama. This almost symbolises the shift in power today, as the PM of Singapore summarised succinctly: If China wasnt growing, then I dont know where wed be nowwed probably be hiding in a cave sitting on top of our gold bars. Mr Hu talked at length about the concept of inclusive growth, growth which not only brings economic benefits but also social and environmental benefits, which is known as the triple bottom line in the West.

Oh how the world has changed. President Hu of China receives thunderous applause and a standing ovation, while Obama gets mere claps.

Phew..all this within four hours, what a morning. We spent lunch time networking and talking to the delegates of the CEO Summit, while the afternoon session was a series of more intimate workshop/Q&As with top executives across many of the largest corporations around the world. We touched on a wide range of topics including whether it is right for governments to bail out companies, the importance of corporate social responsibility, what the West can learn from Japans failed attempts in the last two decades to use fiscal policies to stimulate its economy.

We finished the day by having dinner with all the Voices of the Future delegates at Chinatown in Yokohama, one of the biggest in the world. This was capped off with gift exchanges (where our Kiwi t-shirts, pens and pads were snapped up instantly courtesy of Trade

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Me thanks for the support guys!) and a cultural night (where different delegates showcased different aspects of their culture).

We had an absolutely awesome time at APEC, have learnt heaps, met lots of interesting people and made a lot of good friends. Thank you to VTM-NZ and Asia New Zealand Foundation for making all of this happen. I hope you enjoyed following our daily updates and we look forward to APEC 2011 in Hawaii!

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