Press Release: Bay Area Council Economic Institute Announces Host Committee for 21-Economy Asia-Pacific Pre-Summit in San Francisco Next Year
The Bay Area Council Economic Institute today announced that its public-private CalAPEC Organizing Committee, which was responsible for organizing San Francisco’s selection for the 21-economy Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) pre-summit, will officially become the CalAPEC 2011 Host Committee. White House Council of Economic Advisors former chairperson Laura D’Andrea Tyson will serve as an honorary committee chair.
“After nearly three years of work to bring APEC meetings to California, we welcomed acceptance of our bid to host government and business leaders for an intensive series of APEC meetings in September 2011,” said Sean Randolph, president of the Institute. “The APEC economies include our major trading partners on both sides of the Pacific Ocean. We need business growth for economic recovery, and these meetings will help drive an open playing field for growth behind the borders, at the borders, and across the borders of our trading partners.”
Paul Oliva, the Institute consultant who spearheaded the CalAPEC bid, said “APEC is the first high-level international government meeting won through bid by either San Francisco or California in over a decade. We succeeded with the support of the California Chamber of Commerce, the San Francisco Convention and Visitors Bureau, business and civic leaders around the state, and Governor Schwarzenegger and Mayor Gavin Newsom. Senators Feinstein and Boxer worked with Speaker Pelosi on joint support, and George Miller and Wally Herger rallied the House delegation. It’s a great win.”
The APEC gathering in San Francisco lays the final groundwork for a heads of state and CEO APEC Leaders’ Meeting in Honolulu in November 2011, chosen for security reasons and as the home state of President Obama.
The CalAPEC Host Committee will undertake fundraising to support gracious hosting of the meetings and will look at ways in which Bay Area and California innovative policies, products, people, and services can inspire support for job-creating growth throughout Asia-Pacific. CalAPEC extends the Institute’s ongoing work on China, Canada, and international business ties of the Bay Area, and it sets the stage for the region’s bid on the 2020 World Expo.
As announced by the State Department Monday, envisioned for San Francisco is an intensive series of meetings, including the ambassador-level Senior Officials’ Meeting, working group and committee meetings, public-private forums involving senior government and private sector leaders, and a high-level meeting of energy and transportation officials. Issues addressed at these meetings will include those related to APEC’s core mission to promote free and open trade and investment and strengthen economic integration in the Asia-Pacific region, as well as making regional economic growth more inclusive and sustainable.
In addition to honorary chair Laura Tyson and director Paul Oliva, the CalAPEC Host Committee includes Organizing Committee members continuing their participation: Sean Randolph, Bay Area Council Economic Institute; Kim Benson, Cange International; Greg Hardy, Chevron; Helga Ying, Levi Strauss & Co.; Greg S. Slater, Intel Corporation; Everett Golden, Otis McAllister; Jim MacLellan, Port of Los Angeles; Tim Shear, San Bernardino County; Michael Obermire, USS-POSCO Industries; and Susanne Stirling, California Chamber of Commerce. Visa’s John Barry and Accenture’s Tracy Iseler contributed to the Organizing Committee.
An advisory group includes Joel Ayala, Governor’s Office of Economic Development; Nancy Kirschner-Rodriguez and Mark Chandler of the City of San Francisco, Bill Lee, San Francisco International Airport; Leonie Patrick, San Francisco Convention & Visitors Bureau; Jim Lazarus, San Francisco Chamber of Commerce; Jeremy Potash, California-Asia Business Council; Bob Sakai, East Bay Economic Development Alliance; Bella Heule, San Diego World Trade Center; Carlos Valderrama, Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce; Abe Lowenthal, University of Southern California; and Vinod K. Aggarwal, University of California, Berkeley.
The CalAPEC Host Committee, which is a program of the 501c3 Bay Area Council Foundation, is accepting financial contributions from interested parties.
APEC is a 21-member association of economies from the Asia-Pacific region working together to advance regional economic integration and prosperity. The APEC economies account for 40 percent of the world’s population, 56 percent of world GDP and 48 percent of world trade. Attending the San Francisco meetings will be representatives of Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, People’s Republic of China, Hong Kong, China, Indonesia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Republic of the Philippines, Russian Federation, Singapore, Chinese Taipei, Thailand, United States of America, and Viet Nam.
