|  Asia-Pacific
Economic Cooperation (APEC)
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APEC
2007 Furman students — (l-r) Elizabeth Bradley, Pete
DeMarco, Anna Ready, and Alli Buckner |
APEC
2007
Sydney, Australia
September 2 - 8, 2007
In 2007, four
Furman students—Elizabeth Bradley, Alli Buckner, Pete DeMarco,
and Anna Ready—along with Professor of Political Science Don
Gordon, participated in the APEC "Voices of the Future"
program held in Sydney, Australia. To view the
students' blog,
click here.
For the first
time, selected students were invited to attend the APEC Business
Summit held at the Sydney Opera House. Pete DeMarco, chosen from
the U.S. contingent, attended Prime Minister of Canada Stephen Harper’s
opening address as well as two panel discussions, all of which provided
a view on global warming. According to DeMarco, Stephen Harper emphasized
the need to strike a balance between environmental stewardship and
economic growth and supported the 50% world emission reduction proposed
by Japan for 2050. On the other hand, the first panel that included
CEOs of CNOOC (oil and gas company, China), BHP Billiton (the world’s
largest mining company) and Chevron felt that coal consumption could
double by 2050 since there are large reserves of coal. Hence, their
discussion focused on improving technology that would enable cleaner
burning of coal. The session was closed by Peru’s President
Garcia, who offered a vision for next year’s APEC meeting
to be held in Lima, Peru. He promised that issues important to developing
economies will be front and center.
All Furman
students attended APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) meetings
and conducted interviews with delegates including Yukio Shotuku,
CEO, Panasonic; Yoshirro Watamabe, CEO, Mitsubishi; and Yoshio Ishizaka,
CEO, Toyota, from Japan. Their perspective on the business’
role in environmental issues was one of the main foci of the discussion.
Mr. Shotuku explained that developed nations within the APEC region,
such as Japan, need to “take the lion’s share”
of responsibility concerning environmental issues, and that developing
nations need time to grow.
Students interviewed
Jae-Hyun Hyun, the former Chairman of South Korea’s ABAC meeting
in 2005, and former owner and chairman of one of the most successful
businesses in South Korea, Tony Yang Group. Mr. Hyun explained that,
to be successful, businesses must be flexible and willing to change
their product to meet consumer demands. He also shared his philosophy
about the essence of compromise in the ABAC process, “nothing
is full of only good things; you just have to learn how to maximize
the pluses and minimize the minuses.”
Lastly, the
students interviewed Chile’s ABAC representative, Sergio Toro,
an international lawyer from Chile. He shared his view on ABAC,
“ABAC is a vehicle through which business and governmental
leaders can have working relationships. It is essential that trade
is opened in developing countries so that they may grow and develop
their economies within the region.”
As customary,
each delegation planned a “cultural presentation” for
the APEC “Voices of the Future” group. The Japanese
students made every delegation a banner with their country’s
name written in Japanese calligraphy; the Indonesian and Vietnamese
delegations wore traditional clothing from their countries and demonstrated
ceremonial dances; and finally, the U.S. delegation (Pete, Elizabeth,
Anna, and Alli) rapped about the U.S. to the beat of Fresh Prince
of Bel Air. Pete prefaced the rap by saying that because the United
States always gets a bad rap, and we want to give our country a
good rap.
Elizabeth Bradley
commented on her experience, “The times that I have learned
the most have actually been the downtimes, when nothing was on the
agenda. During those moments, I engaged in conversations with the
other APEC Voices participants from the other member economies in
the Asian-Pacific region. We discussed the many differences and
similarities in our cultures and issues that affect us most –
healthcare system in Australia, the political parties in Mexico,
the Chinese one-child policy, the gun restrictions in New Zealand,
and the environmental issues in Indonesia.”
Alli Buckner
shared this reflection on her experience, “I realized the
importance of organizations like APEC. It is only when we come together
in one place to discuss the issues, to eat meals together, and to
laugh together, that we can truly begin to work together toward
a common goal. If we want to be a global community and not simply
a group of globalized nations, then we must continue to engage one
another and, most importantly, we must continue to listen to every
voice.”
For
photos, click
here.
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