NCAPEC Photo Blog: First Quarter Activities

2020 kicked off with great momentum. In January, NCAPEC hosted the Executive Roundtable in San Diego with a program that featured government officials and ABAC Members from the U.S. and Malaysia, as well as the Executive Director of the APEC Secretariat. In February, NCAPEC staff participated in the first APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC 1) in Sydney, Australia and first Senior Officials Meeting (SOM 1) and related meetings in Putrajaya, Malaysia. These productive meetings set the pace for Malaysia’s priorities as the APEC host economy.

Unfortunately, the global COVID-19 pandemic has prompted the postponement of numerous meetings and events that NCAPEC, APEC, and ABAC scheduled for this spring. NCAPEC is not alone in this new normal as organizations of all sizes are reimagining what meetings might look like and how they will continue to remain engaged with stakeholders and advance their respective advocacy agendas under the circumstances.

January

Executive Roundtable
The National Center for APEC organized and hosted a day-long Executive Roundtable in San Diego, California with key representatives from the U.S. Government, APEC, ABAC, and NCAPEC members. Speakers and panelists focused on Malaysia’s APEC and ABAC priorities as the host economy for 2020. Additional presentations explored artificial intelligence, innovation, inclusion, integration and 5G. Following the presentations attendees broke into small groups to discuss how the U.S. private sector priorities can support Malaysia’s objectives for APEC 2020 under the theme of “Optimizing human potential towards a future of shared prosperity.”

February

Senior Officials Meeting 1 (SOM 1)
Despite concerns about the coronavirus, the first cluster of APEC Senior Officials’ and Related Meetings were held as planned in Putrajaya, Malaysia from February 3-22. In addition to highlighting its key priorities for 2020, the Malaysian government, led by APEC SOM Chair Hairil Yahri Yaacob, a senior official in Malaysia’s Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI), led seminars and discussions on APEC’s Post-2020 Vision. The Vision is expected to guide APEC’s work over the next 20 years and will be a major deliverable for APEC this November.

The U.S. delegation was led by Sandra Oudkirk of the State Department and Michael Beeman of the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.

APEC Business Advisory Council Meeting 1 (ABAC 1)
APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) members gathered in Sydney, Australia from February 12-16 for the first meeting under the leadership of Malaysian member Dato’ Rohana Mahmood, chair of the group for 2020. The sessions opened with the annual ABAC SOM Dialogue where ABAC members discussed issues including the WTO, digital economy, sustainability and inclusion with APEC Senior Officials.

Dialogue participants expressed serious concern about the stalemate in talks on updating the governance of the WTO, discussed the role of the private sector in addressing climate change and shared thoughts on policies to allow economies to leverage advancements in technologies like artificial intelligence.
This was the first meeting for returning U.S. ABAC member Peggy Johnson of Microsoft who is serving as chair of ABAC’s Digital and Innovation Working Group.