The 9th Annual Conference of NEAT

The Network of East Asian Think- tanks (NEAT) held its 9th Annual Conference (AC) and 15th Country Coordinators Meeting (CCM) in Danang, Vietnam from August 10 to 12, 2011. The host was Institute for Foreign Policy and Strategic Studies Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam and 45 specialists and experts representing different think tanks in the ASEAN+3 nations participated.

As for Japan, 8 participated, who were HIRABAYASHI Hiroshi, Executive Vice-President of the Council on East Asian Community (CEAC) and Vice president of Japan Forum on International Relations (JFIR), HABA Kumiko, Vice President of CEAC and Professor of Aoyama Gakuin University, ISHIGAKI Yasuji, Vice President of CEAC and Councilor of JFIR, KAWAI Masahiro, Member of CEAC and Dean of the Asian Development Bank Institute, KOBORI Shinzo, Research Counselor of Institute for International Policy Studies, OKAZAKI Kenji, Member of CEAC and Professor of National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, KIKUCHI Yona, Acting Executive Secretary of CEAC and Research Fellow of JFIR, OTA Toru, Research Assistant of JFIR.

Prior to the AC and the CCM, four Working Groups (WGs) were established and have been conducting research activities on the topics of (1) East Asian Disaster Managements (sponsored by China), (2) The Enhancement of Cultural Exchange in East Asia (sponsored by Korea), (3) Regional Cooperation on Disaster Management in East Asia (sponsored by Japan), and (4) East Asian Trade and Investment Facilitation and Connectivity (sponsored by China), and (5) Water Resource management (sponsored by Singapore). The AC and the CCM heard reports from the WGs, and, after heated discussions by all participants, adopted a set of policy recommendations which has been submitted to the ASEAN+3 Summit.