Exploring Next Steps for Negotiating a Digital Pacific Agreement
VIEW EVENT DETAILSIn Partnership with American Leadership Initiative
Join the American Leadership Initiative and the Asia Society Policy Institute for a program exploring the next steps for the U.S. to negotiate a Digital Pacific Agreement, featuring Asia Pacific Subcommittee of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Congressman Ami Bera, Australian Ambassador to the U.S. Arthur Sinodinos, Singapore Ambassador to the U.S. Ashok Mirpuri, New Zealand Ambassador to the U.S. Rosemary Banks, Embassy of Japan METI Minister Takeshi Komoto, and ASPI Vice President Wendy Cutler.
SPEAKERS
Wendy Cutler is Vice President at the Asia Society Policy Institute (ASPI) and the managing director of the Washington, D.C. office. In these roles, she focuses on building ASPI’s presence in the nation's capital and on leading initiatives that address challenges related to trade, investment and innovation, as well as women’s empowerment in Asia. She joined ASPI following an illustrious career of nearly three decades as a diplomat and negotiator in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), where she also served as Acting Deputy U.S. Trade Representative. During her USTR career, she worked on a range of bilateral, regional and multilateral trade negotiations and initiatives, including the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement, the Trans Pacific Partnership, U.S.-China negotiations and the WTO Financial Services negotiations.
Ambassador Rosemary Banks is New Zealand’s Ambassador to the United States and has had a forty year career in Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, including six previous overseas assignments. She was Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York (2005–2009) and Ambassador to France and Portugal and New Zealand’s Permanent Representative to the OECD (2010-2014). Rosemary earlier served as Deputy Chief of Mission in Honiara and Canberra. Prior to her appointment as Ambassador to the United States, Rosemary served as a Crown negotiator for the Treaty of Waitangi settlement process.
Congressman Ami Bera represents California’s 7th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2013. Representative Bera is also currently a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, where he serves as Chairman of the Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific, Central Asia, and Nonproliferation. Prior to his current appointment, Representative Bera has had a twenty-year medical career where he worked to improve the availability, quality, and affordability of healthcare. He also served Sacramento County as Chief Medical Officer. In that role, he fought to reduce the cost of health care, create jobs, and deliver care to tens of thousands of Sacramento residents.
Orit Frenkel (Moderator) is the co-founder of the American Leadership Initiative where she leads all aspects of ALI’s programs and policy development. She has 39 years of experience working on Asia, trade, and foreign policy issues, with a special emphasis on the challenges facing U.S. manufacturing companies. Prior to founding ALI, Orit was a senior executive with General Electric Company for 26 years. In that position, she was responsible for supporting GE’s international sales, policy objectives, government relations, and corporate social responsibility initiatives.
Takeshi Komoto is Commercial Minister at the Japanese Embassy in the United States of America since June 2018. His portfolio covers policy areas including economy, trade, industry and energy. He joined Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI), the predecessor of Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI), in 1993. Much of his career focuses on international affairs. Before his current assignment, he was the Managing Director for Multilateral Trading System, Trade Policy Bureau, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan since June 2017. He was responsible for World Trade Organization (WTO) issues as well as new global rule-makings in areas including digital trade and investment.
Ambassador Ashok Mirpuri is Singapore’s ambassador to the United States. Prior to his current appointment, he served as Ambassador to Indonesia from 2006 to 2012, High Commissioner to Malaysia from 2002 to 2006 and High Commissioner to Australia from 2000 to 2002. A career diplomat, Mr Mirpuri joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) in 1984. In 1994, he was appointed Director of MFA's Policy Planning & Analysis Directorate I (Southeast Asia). He was subsequently assigned to the Singapore Embassy in Jakarta in 1998 as Minister-Counsellor and Deputy Chief of Mission, having previously served in Jakarta as First Secretary (Political).
Ambassador Arthur Sinodinos is Australia’s Ambassador to the United States. Prior to his current assignment, he served as Australia’s Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science and was a Senator for New South Wales in the Australian Parliament from 2011 to 2019. Over a career spanning four decades, Ambassador Sinodinos was appointed Prime Minister John Howard’s Senior Economic Adviser in 1996 and his Chief of Staff in 1997. He started his Australian Public Service career in 1979, rising to the Senior Executive Service in the Department of the Treasury.