UPH-ERIA 3rd Distinguished Lecture Series: ?ASEAN Economic Community 2015 and Trans-Pacific Partnership?

Since the establishment of World Trade Organization, all members agree to eliminate the trade barriers in their countries. In order to accelerate the globalization process, some countries choose to cooperate with other countries in smaller group, such as free trade agreement or Trans Pacific Partnership. In light of this reality, what should students, public and private sectors need to know about this issue? How these agreements can affect relations between countries and what should they do to overcome with this situation? To answer these questions, UPH took an initiative and held a Public Lecture ?ASEAN Economic Community 2015 and Trans-Pacific Partnership? to provide a platform for discussions among government officials, academia and public and private sector leaders.

This public lecture presented by Edmund Sim ? Managing Partner of Appleton Luff Law Firm, Adjunct Associate Professor at National University of Singapore Law School as well UPH Graduate School.To make this lecture more interesting, Titik Anas ? Economist from Center for Strategic and International Studies served as the discussant. Simon Lacey, Managing Director of UPH Analytics Research & Training for Law-Business Policy, served as the moderator in this public lecture.The seminar started with presentation and experience sharing from Edmund Sim, then continued with Titik Anas? responses towards Edmund?s presentation. The seminar ended with interactive question and answer session.

Edmund gave a comparison between RCEP and TPP, and told audiences about the history, strengths, and weaknesses of each partnership. He also mentioned that it is better for Indonesia to join RCEP first to face the ASEAN Economic Community 2015. Moreover, according to him, as a big country, joining both partnerships is not hard for Indonesia. Responding to Edmund?s presentation, Titik Anas stated that this partnership will not really give any advantages for the member countries and thus, Indonesia should not join either partnership. This lecture showed audiences an overview of this partnership and the right way to respond toward this issue. (of)