Summary Session
Asia of Tomorrow - What Should be Done ?
Chairperson: Nisuke ANDO (Japan)
Speakers: Phisit PAKKASEM (Kingdom of Thailand)
Tamotsu AOKI (Japan)
Yonosuke HARA (Japan)
Makoto IOKIBE (Japan)
｡?Nisuke ANDO
Professor，Faculty of Law，Kyoto University
As I said in the beginning of yesterday's session, the purpose of this conference is not necessarily to reach a particular conclusion. At the first session, Professor Shiraishi suggested that the issue of Asia is not only the issue of space but also the issue of time. Based on that idea, we will have the export from Dr. Pakkasem, the chairperson of the first session. The topic of the second, third and fourth sessions was globalization. First of all, what influence is this globalization having on culture, on various Asian cultures. Next, what influence is it exerting on the economic situation of Asia.
Then we discussed the international relations of Asia in the 21st century. Each theme was far-reaching and stimulating. I think it would be dangerous to rush to reach conclusions in this kind of conference. It would be healthier to have different opinions. So, I have asked the four chairpersons to minimize their summaries of each session and instead raise problems for us to think about. Afterwards, we would like to have a serious, down-to-earth discussion with participants about Asia of the 21st century and about what roles Japan should play in Asia of the 21st century. As I said in the beginning we have no Chinese representative at this symposium. We tried hard to invite someone from China but were unsuccessful. Therefore, as Professor Iokibe said a while ago, I hope to have another symposium with the presence of a Chinese representative. Now Dr. Pakkasem, please.
｡?Phisit PAKKASEM (Chairperson of Session 1)
Chairman, Thai Investment and Securities Public Co., Ltd. (TISCO) Group
The conclusion says, "Asia of Tomorrow - What should be Done?" That the concluding session. So my assumption is globalization will go on in the next century. In what from and in pattern we don't but we assume the world will be more global with science and technology and communication flow. The world will be more like a global village. I see a couple of points that I would like to add.
First point has a lot to do with culture. I think the economic turmoil of Asia has caused a profound change in the region.
Business financial culture. Too many new patterns will attune to a fast-moving globalization process. What I mean in particular is that the a family dominated business culture will be replaced and destroyed by much more public ownership, separate between ownership and management.
And in that sense the business culture in Asia needs to be strengthening a system of corporate governance. Good governance doesn't just apply to politics and the government, but also in the corporation level, a corporate governance.
The crisis in Asia reflects that. Market corporate governance normally refers to a process and a mechanism which provides a check and balance within the corporation. That holds management accountable for is decision, especially in our financial sector.
The second point. At the same time the sustainability of high growth in Asia, both in Northeast and Southeast Asia is now being reappraised. We were just wondering what happens to high growth. We had a crash. So one major lesson we have all learned from globalization is this. The financial liberalization in Asia needs more prerequisite for this openness, sound use of resources and so forth, so we must know how to manage this reverse flow of capital.
Therefore actually I think that the Asian financial sector is lagging behind the real sector. We'll otherwise rely heavily on the wisdom of foreign bankers, portfolio managers and currency traders. We need to strengthen this pattern in order to be sustainable in the next century.
My third point. Some of South Asia is in real need of both international and regional cooperation especially in terms of response, regional response, regulatory response, to somehow look after the so-called globalization. We need to enhance the larger monetary corporation sphere in Asia
