Dr. Chen Chien-Jen Sc.D., Ph.D. Former Vice President of the Republic of China (Taiwan), delivered a Special Presentation on “Lessons Learned from the Covid-19 Pandemic”. Dr. Chen shared his perspectives on the effectiveness of the measures and other mitigation responses of many countries and what factors may have contributed to the success – or have […]
Dr. Chen Chien-Jen Sc.D., Ph.D. Former Vice President of the Republic of China (Taiwan), delivered a Special Presentation on “Lessons Learned from the Covid-19 Pandemic”. Dr. Chen shared his perspectives on the effectiveness of the measures and other mitigation responses of many countries and what factors may have contributed to the success – or have hampered – their implementation, especially on Taiwan’s successful experience and achievement in this regard.
Dr. Chen stressed that for a successful containment of future pandemic, global solidarity and international collaboration are very important. Transparency and honesty are the best policy, he added. For resilience in post-Covid-19 reform, he urged everyone to pay attention to the interface of human health, animal health, and environmental health. “We have only one globe. It is important for us to integrated our efforts to promote overall health of humans, animals and environments.’”
Ms. Priyanka Kishore, Head of India and South East Asia Macro Services at Oxford Economics, gave a presentation that focused on the challenges and disruptions brought about by the pandemic on countries in the region, their efforts to find innovative solutions to adapt in the so-called new normal that has emerged from the health crisis, and what businesses should do as part of their post-pandemic strategies to assure future growth and competitiveness.
Ms. Kishore focused on four key disruptions in the post-pandemic world: 1) supply chain disruptions; 2) living with COVID-19; 3) inflation; and 4) climate change. According to Ms. Kishore, the way forward for most businesses, goes back to age old practices like diversification and risk management. Advising to prepare for supply disruptions to persist well into 2022, she emphasized the importance of identifying where suppliers are coming from and key destinations in terms of final demand, in order to strategize accordingly.
Vaccinations will enable a rise in consumption across the region, but Covid-19 tolerance also matters and will play a key role in determining recovery paths. Those that take longer to move to a different strategy to allow for durable re-openings will probably see a longer recovery or higher disruptions.
She said that inflation, while not a big concern for Asia, is an important risk that needs to be monitored. Finally, climate change is a challenge, and climate goals need to be reviewed and updated, because while the negative economic impact of climate change cannot be avoided, it can be reduced.
Dr. Oriol Caudevilla, FinTech Advisor, Co-Leader of the CBDC and Blockchain Working Groups at the Global Impact FinTech Forum (GIFT), shared his expertise and experience on Digital Currency and how it is revolutionizing the global trading system and reshaping the way business is done, and how in general it could fundamentally change the way people use money.
In his presentation, Dr. Caudevilla said that Central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) have been referred to as “the future of payments”, or even “the future of money”, and not without reason. However, he pointed out that CBDCs are not cryptocurrencies, since they are centralized-issued by a Central Bank- thus, making it legal tender.
Dr. Caudevilla noted that one of the world´s largest free-trade deals in history, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), is expected to create a free trade area encompassing 28% of the global economy, 30% of the global population and reaching 2.2 billion consumers. Dr. Caudevilla said he believes the RCEP will pave the way for the expansion of CBDCs throughout Asia, including (but not limited to) China´s new Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), the digital yuan.
Dr. Andrew Stoeckel, Honorary Professor, Centre for Applied Macroeconomic Analysis, Australian National University, shared the results of the CACCI study on “Achieving a Successful World Trading System”, which he said aims to examine the operations of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and to stress the need for the business community to recommend what reforms are necessary in the WTO and how to achieve them.
Dr. Stoeckel reported that CACCI officially launched the study on October 29, 2021 and organized a webinar with Australian Trade Minister Mr. Dan Tehan on October 26 who acknowledged that the CACCI study encourages CACCI members to engage with their Ministers of Trade to put forward coherent policies ahead of WTO Ministerial meeting.
He then went on to detail the problems with the current trade system that were identified in the CACCI study, along with 15 remedies advanced by CACCI to fix these problems.
Ms. Angela Paolini Ellard, Deputy Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), focused her presentation on the topic “Making the WTO More Adaptable to the Economic and Trade Realities of Today”, in which she shared her views on how WTO members can work together to address the economic and health consequences brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic, what policy responses are needed to get the global economy going again, what challenges are currently faced by the WTO, and what should be done to make the WTO stronger, more agile, and more adaptable to the economic and trade realities of today.
DDG Ellard made the case that the WTO is relevant and worth improving and modernizing. She emphasized the need to demonstrate where the WTO has been successful, be honest about where it has not, and be ambitious as to how it can be made better. Businesses must be a voice for good, on matters that are in their immediate interest, as well as broader issues like climate change, fisheries, and access to vaccines.
Her complete speech can be read HERE.
To read the 35th CACCI Conference’s speakers’ presentations, click HERE.
To video the 35th CACCI Conference’s complete video, click below.