History Activities Cooperation People

History

Dramatic social and political changes in the late 1980s, culminating in the end of the Cold War, created new opportunities for broad and bold thinking about economic development of the long-neglected Northeast Asia region. The recognition that in this positive political climate Northeast Asia's complementary human, natural, and capital resources could be cooperatively mobilized to generate dynamic new economies throughout the region eventually resulted in the establishment of the Northeast Asia Economic Forum.

The idea of a Northeast Asian Economic sphere first began to gain momentum with the 1988 Niigata Conference on the Sea of Japan, organized by former Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr. Okita Saburo and Dr. Lee-Jay Cho of the East-West Center. Around the same time, Dr. Song Jian, Chairman of the State Science and Technology Commission of the People's Republic of China, was considering the possibilities of developing the Tumen River Basin. As a first step, he and Dr. Cho organized the 1990 Changchun Conference on Northeast Asian Development. The UNDP subsequently undertook the implementation of the Tumen River Area Development Programme.

Despite this initial success, there remained formidable obstacles to realization of regional economic development. Institutional barriers and different cultural values, legacies, and attitudes continued to constrain cooperation. To overcome these barriers, the NEAEF was created and formalized at conferences on Northeast Asian economic cooperation in 1991 in Changchun and Tianjin. Gaining momentum, the Forum served as co-organizer of the 1992 Pyongyang International Conference, at which the prospects for economic cooperation with the DPRK were examined. The third step on this formative journey was the Forum's August 1992 Vladivostok Conference. Since 1992 the NEAEF annual meeting has been held in Yongpyeong, South Korea in 1993, Niigata, Japan in 1995, Honolulu in 1996, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia in 1997, Yonago, Japan in 1998, Tianjin, China in 1999, Anchorage, Alaska in 2001, Changchun in 2002, Niigata, Japan in 2004, Seoul, Korea in 2005, Khabarovsk, Russia 2006, Toyama, Japan in 2007, Tianjin, China in 2008, Busan, Korea in 2009, and Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia in 2010.

 

Activities

Since 1991, through dialogue, education, and training, NEAEF has served as a vehicle for exchange of information and ideas among Northeast Asian and North American policymakers, businesspersons, academics, and members of nongovernmental organizations. By engaging in Intraregional and Interregional Dialogue, in cooperation with partner organizations, NEAEF has created a network of country committees in China, Japan, Korea, Russia, Mongolia, the United States and the European Union dedicated to promoting NEAEF activities and goals.

Through an annual meeting, on-going working groups, and ad hoc meetings and seminars, the NEAEF network sponsors dialogue and research on:

Young Leaders Research and Training Program in Regional Cooperation

Given their stake in the region's future and the importance of creating a network among its leaders, NEAEF is committed to encouraging the education, training, and input of promising young researchers and policymakers of Northeast Asia and Asia-Pacific. Since 2006 NEAEF has awarded fellowships to advanced students and young professionals from Northeast Asia and the U.S. to participate in the NEAEF Young Leaders Training and Research Program.

The purpose of the NEAEF Young Leaders Program is to:

Cooperation

China


Democratic People's Republic of Korea


Japan


Mongolia

Republic of Korea


Russian Federation


United States


Regional Institutions

People

Board Members

George Ariyoshi, Former Governor of Hawaii

Stephen Cowper, Former Governor of Alaska

Lee-Jay Cho, Chairman, Northeast Asia Economic Forum
leejaycho@neaef.org

Richard Dubanoski, Dean, College of Social Science, University of Hawaii

Walter Dods, Chairman, First Hawaiian Bank

Wesley Park, Board Member, First Hawaiian Bank

Research Staff

Mitsuho Uchida, Senior Fellow, Professor, Tokyo Women’s University
admin@neaef.org

Eric Im, Senior Fellow & Professor of Economics, University of Hawaii
admin@neaef.org

Kim Seung Il, Senior Research Fellow, API
api.neaef@yahoo.co.kr

Takashi Yamamoto, Research Fellow & Professor of Economics, Akita University, Japan
admin@neaef.org

Ming Liu, Research Fellow
liu.neaef@gmail.com
Link to homepage

Zhang Jianping, Affiliate Fellow, Deputy Division Director, NDRC, China

Zhang Donghui, Affiliate Fellow, Vice-Chairman, China Asia Pacific Institute

Yoshie A. Oya, Program Officer
admin@neaef.org