APEC Board Advisory Council 2013 Writing Competition: Final Submission(English)
By aghnia mega safira - August 28, 2014
Here we go! Final Submission for ABAC Writing competition. Written both in english and bahasa. Happy to say I was the first runner up for this competition yeay! :D
Brief: Apa dan bagaimana pandangan finalis tentang ABAC dan APEC setelah terlibat langsung dalam rangkaian kegiatan 4th ABAC Meeting dan APEC CEO Summit 2013 di Bali dari tanggal 30 September – 8 Oktober 2013.
APEC and ABAC Forums: Could We Find the Right Key to Open the Door?
Selected as one of ABAC Writing Competition finalist is one-in-a-lifetime experience for me. As a finalist, I was given a chance by ABAC to be involved in ABAC 4th meeting as a volunteer and APEC CEO Summit as an observer in Nusa Dua, Bali, from 30 September until 8 October 2013. During the period, I learnt so much, experienced many new things, met new inspirational people and friends, and off course, I got new point of view about APEC and ABAC.
Studying mass media and communication, formerly I only knew APEC as a union of nation in Asia Pacific, talking about something-economical-thing. I thought APEC is something-not-related to my study nor my daily life. I did not even know about ABAC or hear about it.
But couple days in Bali prove me wrong. APEC and ABAC talk about economy, trade, geopolitics, multinational relation, and politics, which are related to our life as well.
APEC and ABAC are very huge forum where leaders both from government side and private sectors are comprised, talks about important thing which have an impact for many people’s livelihood. These forums discuss about what Asia Pacific economies will do in the future and also, like Mr. Wishnu Wardhana said in his welcome message in APEC 2013 website, provide high quality networking which lead to lobbying time.
As I said in my past article about APEC and ABAC, APEC is a forum where governments from each of economies talk about economy policies for Asia pacific global importance. So APEC made policies. Then, the policies are run by the private sector, business people whom comprised in ABAC.
Working with my past analogy in the article, APEC is the architect who designs and makes the policy, and ABAC is the civil engineer who works with the policy. APEC needs ABAC to understand whether the design is applicable and appropriate or not, just like architect needs civil engineer. ABAC and APEC is studying each other condition, ABAC gives report and recommendation to APEC in order to make the most suitable and right policy for both side.
For me, APEC and ABAC forums are chances. It is a chance for every businessman and APEC economies whom included in these meetings to create opportunities for themselves, for the business, for the country.
Simplify the content of ABAC 4thmeeting and APEC CEO Summit for my-mind-with-basic-knowledge-in-this-economic-politic-world, APEC and ABAC concerned about four main issues: sustainability, connectivity, global growth, trading and investment.
Sustainability is talking about renewable energy and food security. It is an important issue for every economies. As argued by British economist Thomas Malthus in his "Essay on the Principle of Population," population multiplies geometrically and food arithmetically. Therefore, the population will outstrip the food supply. So does the energy. Conventional energy will also meet the end someday because of the number of usage.
Connectivity is also a big deal for APEC economies. In session seven of CEO Summit, Connectivity Across the Asia Pacific, President and CEO Keith Williams of Underwriters Laboratories Inc. told us that nowadays, consumer connect globally. They have more connecting than governments. This is actually a common thing, according to the technological advances and social media development. Mr. Williams also said, this consumer connectivity are able to driving regulation faster than government do.
In APEC CEO Summit Global Growth Session, President Pinera of Chile said that Chile is going to invest on the people. The realization is education, like giving abroad scholarship to their students. He also said infrastructure is also the most important thing, because human resource could not be built without infrastructure. In the same session, our Finance Minister Chatib Basri also said Indonesia will not be able to rely on our tangible resource like garment. The point is actually government has policy, the most intangible assets, which is supporting investment opportunities in Indonesia.
With this new knowledge about global growth and connectivity, we moved into trading and investment. In The Global Trading System Session, Prime Minister John Key of New Zealand told us how to keep things balance between NZ’s food safety regulation with free trade agreements between NZ and many countries in the world. In this session, we also was able to see diplomatic strategy of Mr. John Key who asked our Trade Minister Gita Wirjawan, to asked Indonesia to join the Free Trade. (free trade with Indonesia is a big opportunity for New Zealand which 2012 export to Indonesia reach USD 0,7 Million and keep increasing - http://industri.kontan.co.id/news/selandia-baru-perbesar-ekspor-daging-ke-indonesia)
Here, I hope we already saw what ‘chance’ means when we talk about APEC and ABAC forum. We could see Mr. John Key grab the chance to creating opportunities, send a code to lobbying Indonesia about Free Trade Agreement. I am pretty sure another chance was come around in APEC CEO Summit forum. The main problem is whether we grab the chance or not.
Also when President and CEO Scott Price of Walmart Asia told us there is an exciting opportunity, digital connectivity is increasing rather than physical connectivity. It is just one important information, there are so many others which much more global. Like when Kishore Mahbubani told us the optimism of development of the world or the geopolitical tension between US and China, between China and Japan.
APEC and ABAC forums are like a door. Door of opportunities. The choices are actually ours. One option is to stand still, while the other is find the right key to open those doors.
Aghnia Mega Safira
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