Strengthening North Pacific Cooperation

The conference was held on July 25, 2014 co-organized by the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP) and East-West Center (EWC) in Honolulu. The key factors of the conference was to shape the economic future of the major North Pacific countries and the importance of economic cooperation among them. Major topics to be addressed were (1) the macroeconomic performances and outlooks of China, the United States, Korea, and Japan, and the interrelationship among them, (2) the emerging multilateral economic architecture and its implications, with specific reference to the TPP, the RCEP, and China-Japan-Korea free trade prospects, and (3) the future of the North Korean economy and its implications for North Pacific cooperation. The main sessions of the conference covered 'Prospects for the region's economies', 'Pathways toward trade and investment integration in the North Pacific region', 'Assessing economic and social change in North Korea'.