The Asia Pacific faces major transition in the next century and much of public policy will be made and implemented in a world of uncertainty. This forum will feature a keynote address from Professor Padma Desai, Columbia University. She will reflect on recovery from the global financial crisis from the perspective of Asian economies.

Other leading thinkers will consider public policy priorities over the coming decade and beyond, effectively providing a timely and informed update of key issues impacting on public policy in the Asia-Pacific economies.

Professor Padma Desai is Gladys and Roland Harriman Professor of Comparative Economic Systems and Director of the Center for Transition Economies at Columbia University. Professor Desai is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, one of the United States’ most influential foreign policy think tanks. She received her PhD in economics from Harvard University where she began her teaching career. Professor Desai has published extensively in professional journals on issues of economic planning in the Soviet Union before she switched her research agenda to economic reforms in Russia and the emerging market economies. Her latest writings focus on the globalisation of these economies and their exposure to financial crisis.