On Tuesday, April 16, 2019, TCS delegation led by Secretary-General LEE Jong-heon and Deputy Secretary-General HAN Mei visited the East Asian Institute (EAI) of National University of Singapore (NUS) and the APEC Secretariat in Singapore.
At the East Asian Institute (EAI), TCS delegation met with Professor ZHENG Yongnian, Director of EAI and a renowned scholar on China, international relations and regional security, etc. The two sides had a deep discussion about regional affairs and cooperation. Secretary-General Lee Jong-heon addressed the importance of trilateral cooperation in the “hyper-uncertain” time and introduced TCS’ efforts of facilitating the cooperation regardless of the ups and downs of bilateral relationships. Professor Zheng echoed the importance of Northeast Asian cooperation and shared his views about the development of the region. The two organizations also discussed about possible collaboration in the future as great synergies are shared between the them.
At the APEC Secretariat, TCS delegation met with Dr. Rebecca Fatima Sta Maria, Executive Director of the Secretariat. Secretary-General LEE and Dr. Sta Maria exchanged views on regional economic cooperation including supply chain connectivity and each other’s activities in this area. They agreed that smooth regional connectivity would provide considerable benefits to the prosperity of East Asia and more work needs to be done to achieve this goal. Both sides also discussed regional trade development and common work agenda such as support to MSMEs and E-commerce. Deputy Secretary-General HAN Mei introduced TCS’ projects and initiatives in these two areas and suggested that TCS could learn from APEC’s rich experience. Dr. Sta Maria welcomed more communication between the two organizations and possible future cooperation.
