The Leaders I met in Singapore

As Kelly and others have already mentioned, the APEC conference this year provided us with a pretty amazing level of access to world leaders and policy makers. I would like to expand upon the “political and professional contacts” I made during the week.

The first list includes people I met and/or interviewed through the week. The depth of these conversations varied, though most were substantive. They aren’t listed in any particular order. Note: “H.E.” stands for “His Excellency”

• Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (who also autographed last week’s Time magazine!)
• Former Prime Minister of Pakistan, H.E. Shaukat Aziz (credited with successful macroeconomic stabilization schemes in the country, former finance minister as well)- Picture, above
• Peter Scher (Executive VP for Global Government Relations and Public Policy, JP Chase Morgan): also credited with negotiating China’s successful ascension to the World Trade Organization (WTO)
• John Key, Prime Minister of New Zealand (with two other cabinet-level officials)
• Kurt Campbell (Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs; also U.S. diplomat in charge of negotiations in Myanmar for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners)
• Lieutenant General Paul Selva (Assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff)
• H.E. SR Nathan (President of Singapore)
• Teo Ser Luck (Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Community Development, Youth and Sports, and Chairman, National Youth Council in Singapore)
• Dr. Vivian Balakrishnan (Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports in Singapore)
• Dr. Charles Morrison, President of the East-West Center
• Eduardo Pedrosa (Secretary General of PECC- The Pacific Economic Cooperation Council)
• Jusuf Wanandi (Vice Chair of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, CSIS, Indonesia)
• Cynthia Brown (U.S. embassy in Bangkok, Thailand)
• Tristram Perry (U.S. embassy in Indonesia)
• Madhu Konero (Group CEO, MEC Holdings)

I also had the opportunity to meet with and discuss APEC-related issues with other government officials from Singapore as well as various staff from the U.S. embassy in Singapore.

In addition, there was an impressive array of heads-of-state, business leaders, and policy makers that gave addresses in the main conference hall where we had access. These included: prime ministers of Australia, Thailand, Malaysia, Mexico, Russia, Brazil, Singapore, and Japan, as well as the U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk, Sec. of Commerce Gary Locke, and executive officials for major corporations such as Chevron, Exxon Mobil, Price Water House Coopers, and the editor of Forbes magazine, among many others.

Overall, I was able to meet people during breaks sessions during the APEC CEO summit, and our media credentials with Voices of the Future gave us access to the main hall where these speeches and panels took place. Some major news items that occurred while we were there included the announcement of the U.S.’s decision to “engage” with the Trans Pacific Partnership (basically, a new Free Trade Agreement scheme) , the Australian PM’s announcement (or, rather, articulation) of a regional governing structure (like the EU, but not as much power or ceded sovereignty), as well as various commitments for the upcoming climate negotiations (COP 15) to be held in Copenhagen this December (where a re-negotiation of the Kyoto Protocol is on the top of the agenda).

All of these connections and opportunities for access were made through a combination of strategic planning and sheer luck. A special thanks is in order for my roommate during the week, Hasiba, who works with the Ministry for Youth in Singapore and helped make many of the connections with Singaporean government officials.