Private Roundtable Discussion with Peter Drysdale
MUMBAI, 1 October, 2015 -- The Asia Society India Centre in partnership with the Australian Consulate General Mumbai welcomed Dr. Peter Drysdale, Emeritus Professor of Economics, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University in conversation with Neelkanth Mishra, India Strategist, Credit Suisse. The conversation took into cognizance the history of Asia's economies and took a forward looking perspective on China and Asia's economic integration and its progressive future.
Dr. Drysdale began the conversation by setting context to Asian economics on the world stage. He said "Asia's century is here, with the high rates of growth, income and trade, there will be massive impact on the world, particularly the middle class." The middle class is seen important as a measure for growth, quality of living, and income status. He went on to describe how the relationship between India and Australia is crucial not only between the two, but as a sign to the rest of the world in the repositioning of regional policy strategies. It is fundamental to look into tap into the opportunity between India and Australia in order to change not only the economic structure but social structure in society.
Talking about the rise of Asia, Dr. Drysdale highlighted how Japan played a leading role in regional trade and transformation particularly in the 1980s, which helped shape Asia's influential position in the world.
However, in the late 1980s failure of the Asian regime became prevalent. The leaders failed to focus on macro-economic policies and did not take into consideration their currency's exchange rate to the U.S. dollar. China is currently the largest market for over 50 countries globally, including all of East Asia. Dr. Drysdale went on to say we need to have a deeper regulatory and capital market integration in Asian economies, which will help grasp regional economic opportunities and appease rising political tensions; those policies must be inclusive to all Asian partners including India.
Reported by: Maneka Chotirmall, Programme Assistant, Asia Society India Centre.
This discussion is a part of Asia Society's BASIC series. The BASIC series presents intimate, invitation-only breakfast round tables that bring together eminent speakers from the fields of Asian business and policy. This represents the kind of informed forum, nuanced insight and new connections that Asia Society aims to bring to bear around key topics of relevance today.
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