11th SWR Programme (2024) – Sustainable Resources Dialogue

PROGRAMME

11th Singapore Dialogue on Sustainable World Resources (SWR):
Next Economy and the Future of Resources

Date: Thursday, 9 May 2024
Time: 9:00am – 4:00pm (Registration begins at 8:30am)
Venue: Fullerton Hotel, Singapore

08:30-09:00

Guest Registration

09:00-09:10

Welcome Remarks

09:10-09:40

The Future of Green Growth for Singapore and ASEAN

09:40-10:10

Indonesia’s Future Economy and the Role of Resource Sectors

10:10-11:10

The Road Ahead for Resource Sector – Policy and Market Directions

11:10-11:40

Coffee/Tea Break

11:40-12:10

Fostering Sustainability for Malaysia's Exports and Global Green Demand

12:10-13:10

Trade Regulations and Sustainability Standards – Challenge or Opportunity?

13:10-13:20

Closing Remarks

13:20-14:15

Lunch

14:30-16:00

Reinventing Sustainable Financing for Smallholders and Future Generations

Note: This programme is subject to change.

1

Assoc. Prof. Simon Tay

Chairman
Singapore Institute of International Affairs

Simon SC Tay is a public intellectual as well as an advisor to major corporations and policy-makers.

He is Chairman of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs, the country’s oldest think tank. The SIIA focuses on the politics, economic policies and sustainablity issues that matter to policy makers and corporations in ASEAN and Asia. Consistently ranked by an international survey within the top 50 of the world and amongst the best in ASEAN, the SIIA is also rated the No 1 independent think tank across all of Asia. The SIIA works actively in “track 2” diplomacy with policy makers, not only in Singapore but across ASEAN, including previously advising the Indonesian and Myanmar governments on foreign investment. SIIA members and benefactors include many of leading Singaporean companies and multinationals.

Presently, Prof Tay serves as an Ambassador for Singapore, accredited to Greece on a non-residential basis. He is a board member of the Maritime Port Authority and also chairs the trade and sustainability dialogues for free trade agreements that Singapore has with the European Union and UK. He has previously served Singapore in a number of public appointments. These include Chairman of the National Environment Agency (2002-08); Expert and Eminent Person in the ASEAN Regional Forum (2002–2019); independent Member of Parliament (1997-2001); and to coordinate the country’s equivalent of the Peace Corps (1990-93). He co-chaired a number of national public commissions such as Singapore 21, the Singapore Green Plan and the Singapore Concept Plan 2010. In 2006, Prof Tay received a National Day Award.

Additionally, Tay is a tenured Associate Professor, teaching since 1995 at the National University of Singapore Faculty of Law with a focus on international law. He has also taught as visiting professor at Harvard Law School, the Fletcher School and Yale University. In addition to academic works, his book, Asia Alone: the Dangerous Post Crisis Divide from America (Wiley 2010) was well reviewed in the Economist and Financial Times. His comments and interviews often feature in the international and regional media.

Another aspect of Prof Tay’s work is to advise major corporations. Currently, he is Senior Consultant at WongPartnership, a leading Asian law firm of over 300 lawyers and offices in ASEAN, China and the Middle East. Previously, he served on global advisory boards for MUFG Bank of Japan, and Toyota Japan, and was Corporate Advisor to Temasek Holdings (2006-09). For more than a decade, he served as independent board director for companies including the LGT Bank of Liechtenstein and Deutsche Boerse (Asia). He is often asked to brief major corporate boards and financial institutions and has spoken at leading business conferences including the World Economic Forum, APEC and ASEAN CEO Summits.

Additionally, Tay is a prize winning author of fiction and poetry. His 2010 novel City of Small Blessings was awarded the Singapore Literature Prize and in 2019 he received the SE Asia Write award in recognition of contributions to the region’s writing.

He graduated in law from the National University of Singapore (1986), where he was president of the student union for three terms. He also holds a Masters in Law from Harvard Law School (1993-94), which he attended on a Fulbright Scholarship and where he won the Laylin prize for the best thesis in international law.

He was born in 1961 and is the only son of the late Tay Seow Huah, a pioneer generation civil servant reporting to the Prime Minister and Defence Minister, and the late Madam Cheong Keong Hin, a teacher. Prof Tay is married and has one son.

Assoc. Prof. Simon Tay

Chairman
Singapore Institute of International Affairs

Simon SC Tay is a public intellectual as well as an advisor to major corporations and policy-makers.

He is Chairman of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs, the country’s oldest think tank. The SIIA focuses on the politics, economic policies and sustainablity issues that matter to policy makers and corporations in ASEAN and Asia. Consistently ranked by an international survey within the top 50 of the world and amongst the best in ASEAN, the SIIA is also rated the No 1 independent think tank across all of Asia. The SIIA works actively in “track 2” diplomacy with policy makers, not only in Singapore but across ASEAN, including previously advising the Indonesian and Myanmar governments on foreign investment. SIIA members and benefactors include many of leading Singaporean companies and multinationals.

Presently, Prof Tay serves as an Ambassador for Singapore, accredited to Greece on a non-residential basis. He is a board member of the Maritime Port Authority and also chairs the trade and sustainability dialogues for free trade agreements that Singapore has with the European Union and UK. He has previously served Singapore in a number of public appointments. These include Chairman of the National Environment Agency (2002-08); Expert and Eminent Person in the ASEAN Regional Forum (2002–2019); independent Member of Parliament (1997-2001); and to coordinate the country’s equivalent of the Peace Corps (1990-93). He co-chaired a number of national public commissions such as Singapore 21, the Singapore Green Plan and the Singapore Concept Plan 2010. In 2006, Prof Tay received a National Day Award.

Additionally, Tay is a tenured Associate Professor, teaching since 1995 at the National University of Singapore Faculty of Law with a focus on international law. He has also taught as visiting professor at Harvard Law School, the Fletcher School and Yale University. In addition to academic works, his book, Asia Alone: the Dangerous Post Crisis Divide from America (Wiley 2010) was well reviewed in the Economist and Financial Times. His comments and interviews often feature in the international and regional media.

Another aspect of Prof Tay’s work is to advise major corporations. Currently, he is Senior Consultant at WongPartnership, a leading Asian law firm of over 300 lawyers and offices in ASEAN, China and the Middle East. Previously, he served on global advisory boards for MUFG Bank of Japan, and Toyota Japan, and was Corporate Advisor to Temasek Holdings (2006-09). For more than a decade, he served as independent board director for companies including the LGT Bank of Liechtenstein and Deutsche Boerse (Asia). He is often asked to brief major corporate boards and financial institutions and has spoken at leading business conferences including the World Economic Forum, APEC and ASEAN CEO Summits.

Additionally, Tay is a prize winning author of fiction and poetry. His 2010 novel City of Small Blessings was awarded the Singapore Literature Prize and in 2019 he received the SE Asia Write award in recognition of contributions to the region’s writing.

He graduated in law from the National University of Singapore (1986), where he was president of the student union for three terms. He also holds a Masters in Law from Harvard Law School (1993-94), which he attended on a Fulbright Scholarship and where he won the Laylin prize for the best thesis in international law.

He was born in 1961 and is the only son of the late Tay Seow Huah, a pioneer generation civil servant reporting to the Prime Minister and Defence Minister, and the late Madam Cheong Keong Hin, a teacher. Prof Tay is married and has one son.

Assoc. Prof. Simon Tay

Chairman
Singapore Institute of International Affairs

Simon SC Tay is a public intellectual as well as an advisor to major corporations and policy-makers.

He is Chairman of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs, the country’s oldest think tank. The SIIA focuses on the politics, economic policies and sustainablity issues that matter to policy makers and corporations in ASEAN and Asia. Consistently ranked by an international survey within the top 50 of the world and amongst the best in ASEAN, the SIIA is also rated the No 1 independent think tank across all of Asia. The SIIA works actively in “track 2” diplomacy with policy makers, not only in Singapore but across ASEAN, including previously advising the Indonesian and Myanmar governments on foreign investment. SIIA members and benefactors include many of leading Singaporean companies and multinationals.

Presently, Prof Tay serves as an Ambassador for Singapore, accredited to Greece on a non-residential basis. He is a board member of the Maritime Port Authority and also chairs the trade and sustainability dialogues for free trade agreements that Singapore has with the European Union and UK. He has previously served Singapore in a number of public appointments. These include Chairman of the National Environment Agency (2002-08); Expert and Eminent Person in the ASEAN Regional Forum (2002–2019); independent Member of Parliament (1997-2001); and to coordinate the country’s equivalent of the Peace Corps (1990-93). He co-chaired a number of national public commissions such as Singapore 21, the Singapore Green Plan and the Singapore Concept Plan 2010. In 2006, Prof Tay received a National Day Award.

Additionally, Tay is a tenured Associate Professor, teaching since 1995 at the National University of Singapore Faculty of Law with a focus on international law. He has also taught as visiting professor at Harvard Law School, the Fletcher School and Yale University. In addition to academic works, his book, Asia Alone: the Dangerous Post Crisis Divide from America (Wiley 2010) was well reviewed in the Economist and Financial Times. His comments and interviews often feature in the international and regional media.

Another aspect of Prof Tay’s work is to advise major corporations. Currently, he is Senior Consultant at WongPartnership, a leading Asian law firm of over 300 lawyers and offices in ASEAN, China and the Middle East. Previously, he served on global advisory boards for MUFG Bank of Japan, and Toyota Japan, and was Corporate Advisor to Temasek Holdings (2006-09). For more than a decade, he served as independent board director for companies including the LGT Bank of Liechtenstein and Deutsche Boerse (Asia). He is often asked to brief major corporate boards and financial institutions and has spoken at leading business conferences including the World Economic Forum, APEC and ASEAN CEO Summits.

Additionally, Tay is a prize winning author of fiction and poetry. His 2010 novel City of Small Blessings was awarded the Singapore Literature Prize and in 2019 he received the SE Asia Write award in recognition of contributions to the region’s writing.

He graduated in law from the National University of Singapore (1986), where he was president of the student union for three terms. He also holds a Masters in Law from Harvard Law School (1993-94), which he attended on a Fulbright Scholarship and where he won the Laylin prize for the best thesis in international law.

He was born in 1961 and is the only son of the late Tay Seow Huah, a pioneer generation civil servant reporting to the Prime Minister and Defence Minister, and the late Madam Cheong Keong Hin, a teacher. Prof Tay is married and has one son.

Dr. Dradjad Hari Wibowo

Founding Chair
Indonesian Forestry Certification Cooperation (IFCC), and

Chair
Prabowo-Gibran Expert Council

Dradjad H. Wibowo (59 years) earned his graduate degree from the Department of Agricultural Economics, Faculty of Agriculture, Bogor Agricultural Institute (IPB) Indonesia. He was awarded the Best Graduate of the Faculty of Agriculture in the June 1987 graduation. He earned his Master of Economics and Doctor of Philosophy degrees from the Department of Economics, the University of Queensland, Australia.

Since 1999 Dradjad Wibowo has been writing hundreds of articles on the Indonesian economy, finance, politic and strategic affairs in leading news outlets in Indonesia. His opinions appear very frequently in Indonesian press, including TVs, radios and printed-and online-media.

He was a member of the Board of Directors of the Institute for Development Economics and Finance (INDEF), a leading policy think-tank in Indonesia, from September 1999 to February 2004 and continues to serve the Institute as one of its shareholders and Senior Economists until today. He served as the Executive Director of the Indonesian Eco-labeling Institute (LEI) from May 2000 to February 2004.

He briefly joined PT Bank Negara Indonesia Tbk., a leading Indonesian state bank, as a member of the Board of Commissioners from December 2003 to May 2004 to help restructure the bank following its US$ 170 million-letter of credit scandal.

He was elected as an Alternate Spokesperson for the Producing Countries Caucus in the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) meeting in Panama, November 2003. In early 2000s he served as a member / spokesperson of the Republic of Indonesia’s delegation to various international organizations such as ITTO and Asian Forestry Partnership.

He served as an expert member of the National Food Security Board from 2002 to October 2004. In July-August 2002 he chaired a National Team on Domestic Debt Reduction, focusing on alternative policies to reduce debt stock and to minimize debt service payments on banking recapitalization bonds.

He joined the National Mandate Party (Partai Amanat Nasional – PAN) in January 2004. He served as the party’s Vice-Chairperson from January 2010 to February 2015 and as the Vice-Chairperson of the party’s Ethics and Honor Board from February 2015 to February 2020. He is currently serving as the Chairman of PAN’s Board of Experts. He was elected as a Member of Parliament in 2004 and sat on the Banking and Finance Committee for the period of 2004-2009.

He founded Sustainable Development Indonesia (SDI) in 2009 to foster implementation of sustainable development. In 2011 he founded the Indonesian Forestry Certification Cooperation (IFCC) to promote certification of sustainable forest management and forest-based products based on the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification’s (PEFC’s) scheme. He serves as IFCC’s Chairperson from 2011 to 2021 and as its Board of Founders’ Chairperson since 2021. He co-founded and is an Honorary Chairperson of the Foundation for International Human Rights Reporting Standards (FIHRRST) based in Brussel and Jakarta. He served as a member of the Impartiality Committee for AJA Registrars Europe, Rome, from 2015 to December 2019. From November 2019, he serves as a member of PEFC’s Board.

In 2007 he became an Associate Professor (Lektor Kepala) at the Graduate School of Management at the ABFI Perbanas Institute, Jakarta. He has been publishing articles on health economics, forestry and sustainability in scientific journals like The Bulletin of the World Health Organization, BMC Public Health and International Journal of Social Economics.

He served as Chairperson of the Strategic Information and Policy Council of the State Intelligence Agency (BIN) from August 2015 to October 2016.

YB Senator Tengku Datuk Seri Utama Zafrul Aziz

Minister of Investment, Trade & Industry
Malaysia

Tengku Zafrul Aziz is Malaysia’s Minister of Investment, Trade & Industry, responsible for growing the country’s manufacturing industry and trade, as well as attracting investments into the country. Since his appointment in December 2022, he has consistently pledged to make Malaysia more pro-business, pro-investment and pro-trade.

Tengku Zafrul was previously Malaysia’s Minister of Finance from March 2020 – October 2022. He led the curation and implementation of eight stimulus and aid packages, the four-phased National Recovery Plan (NRP) to exit the pandemic safely, as well as three national budgets (2021, 2022 and 2023). Post-pandemic, Malaysia achieved a GDP of 8.7% in 2022, the highest among ASEAN countries, and the nation’s highest in 22 years, largely due to the targeted aid measures and NRP. These strategic measures are detailed in his book published by MPH in 2022, entitled Weathering the Economic Storm: A Journey through the Uncharted Waters of COVID-19.

Prior to his ministerial appointments, Tengku Zafrul was in the banking and financial sector for over 22 years, specializing in investment banking, sustainable finance, change management and regional policy execution.He was the Group CEO and Executive Director of CIMB Group Holdings Berhad, a leading ASEAN universal bank and a global leader in Islamic finance, with presence in 13 countries. He had also served as the President Commissioner of PT Bank CIMB Niaga in Indonesia. Earlier years saw him helm senior positions at Maybank Investment Bank Berhad, Maybank Kim Eng Holdings, Citigroup Malaysia, Kenanga Holdings Berhad, Avenue Securities and Tune Money.

A keen sports, sustainability and youth development enthusiast, Tengku Zafrul had spearheaded various initiatives such as CIMB’s The Cooler Earth Sustainability Summit, CIMB Cycle, CIMB ASEAN Scholarship, the CIMB-PGA Classic Golf Tournament and the CIMB Foundation’s proprietary Be$MART financial literacy programme for less privileged tertiary students.

Tengku Zafrul’s passion for cycling and running helped him complete the full Iron Man Challenge in 2019. He also successfully raised funds for charity via the Abbott World Marathon Majors, all six of which were accomplished between 2016 – 2018.

Tengku Zafrul is also an Honorary Captain in Malaysia’s Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve.

Assoc. Prof. Simon Tay

Chairman
Singapore Institute of International Affairs

Simon SC Tay is a public intellectual as well as an advisor to major corporations and policy-makers.

He is Chairman of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs, the country’s oldest think tank. The SIIA focuses on the politics, economic policies and sustainablity issues that matter to policy makers and corporations in ASEAN and Asia. Consistently ranked by an international survey within the top 50 of the world and amongst the best in ASEAN, the SIIA is also rated the No 1 independent think tank across all of Asia. The SIIA works actively in “track 2” diplomacy with policy makers, not only in Singapore but across ASEAN, including previously advising the Indonesian and Myanmar governments on foreign investment. SIIA members and benefactors include many of leading Singaporean companies and multinationals.

Presently, Prof Tay serves as an Ambassador for Singapore, accredited to Greece on a non-residential basis. He is a board member of the Maritime Port Authority and also chairs the trade and sustainability dialogues for free trade agreements that Singapore has with the European Union and UK. He has previously served Singapore in a number of public appointments. These include Chairman of the National Environment Agency (2002-08); Expert and Eminent Person in the ASEAN Regional Forum (2002–2019); independent Member of Parliament (1997-2001); and to coordinate the country’s equivalent of the Peace Corps (1990-93). He co-chaired a number of national public commissions such as Singapore 21, the Singapore Green Plan and the Singapore Concept Plan 2010. In 2006, Prof Tay received a National Day Award.

Additionally, Tay is a tenured Associate Professor, teaching since 1995 at the National University of Singapore Faculty of Law with a focus on international law. He has also taught as visiting professor at Harvard Law School, the Fletcher School and Yale University. In addition to academic works, his book, Asia Alone: the Dangerous Post Crisis Divide from America (Wiley 2010) was well reviewed in the Economist and Financial Times. His comments and interviews often feature in the international and regional media.

Another aspect of Prof Tay’s work is to advise major corporations. Currently, he is Senior Consultant at WongPartnership, a leading Asian law firm of over 300 lawyers and offices in ASEAN, China and the Middle East. Previously, he served on global advisory boards for MUFG Bank of Japan, and Toyota Japan, and was Corporate Advisor to Temasek Holdings (2006-09). For more than a decade, he served as independent board director for companies including the LGT Bank of Liechtenstein and Deutsche Boerse (Asia). He is often asked to brief major corporate boards and financial institutions and has spoken at leading business conferences including the World Economic Forum, APEC and ASEAN CEO Summits.

Additionally, Tay is a prize winning author of fiction and poetry. His 2010 novel City of Small Blessings was awarded the Singapore Literature Prize and in 2019 he received the SE Asia Write award in recognition of contributions to the region’s writing.

He graduated in law from the National University of Singapore (1986), where he was president of the student union for three terms. He also holds a Masters in Law from Harvard Law School (1993-94), which he attended on a Fulbright Scholarship and where he won the Laylin prize for the best thesis in international law.

He was born in 1961 and is the only son of the late Tay Seow Huah, a pioneer generation civil servant reporting to the Prime Minister and Defence Minister, and the late Madam Cheong Keong Hin, a teacher. Prof Tay is married and has one son.

Mr. Paolo Vergano

Partner
FratiniVergano

Mr. Paolo R. Vergano is a founding partner at FratiniVergano – European Lawyers, a law firm based in Brussels, Belgium that also operates in Singapore and Jakarta (www.fratinivergano.eu). His practice focuses on international trade law (WTO, EU and ASEAN law, dispute settlement, market access advisory, and trade negotiation and advocacy in the areas of agriculture, services and non-tariff measures, such as sanitary and phytosanitary measures, technical barriers to trade, and trade and sustainable development).

Prior to co-founding FratiniVergano in 2007, he worked in the international trade departments of law firms in both Washington, DC and Brussels, Belgium and with the External Economic Relations (REX) Committee of the European Parliament. Mr. Vergano is admitted in Belgium and is a member of the Brussels’ bar (A list) and of the Inter-Pacific Bar Association, of which he is a former Chair of the International Trade Committee.

Mr. Vergano is a graduate of the Faculty of Law of the University of Torino, Italy (1995), received a Diplôme Supérieur de Droit Comparé at the Faculté Internationale de Droit Comparé in Strasbourg, France (1996) and holds a Master’s degree in International Business and Trade Law from the University of Fordham School of Law in New York, United States (1997). He teaches international trade law at the World Trade Institute in Bern, Switzerland since 2002, and international trade and food law at the LUISS University in Rome, Italy since 2017, and is a frequent lecturer and author on issues of WTO, EU and ASEAN law.

Since 2009, he is the Editor of FratiniVergano’s fortnightly publication Trade Perspectives©, (http://www.fratinivergano.eu/en/trade-perspectives), regularly providing readers with a set of recent international trade developments of particular commercial and regulatory interest. Since 2011, Mr. Vergano is also on the Editorial Board of the Global Trade and Customs Journal.

Assoc. Prof. Simon Tay

Chairman
Singapore Institute of International Affairs

Simon SC Tay is a public intellectual as well as an advisor to major corporations and policy-makers.

He is Chairman of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs, the country’s oldest think tank. The SIIA focuses on the politics, economic policies and sustainablity issues that matter to policy makers and corporations in ASEAN and Asia. Consistently ranked by an international survey within the top 50 of the world and amongst the best in ASEAN, the SIIA is also rated the No 1 independent think tank across all of Asia. The SIIA works actively in “track 2” diplomacy with policy makers, not only in Singapore but across ASEAN, including previously advising the Indonesian and Myanmar governments on foreign investment. SIIA members and benefactors include many of leading Singaporean companies and multinationals.

Presently, Prof Tay serves as an Ambassador for Singapore, accredited to Greece on a non-residential basis. He is a board member of the Maritime Port Authority and also chairs the trade and sustainability dialogues for free trade agreements that Singapore has with the European Union and UK. He has previously served Singapore in a number of public appointments. These include Chairman of the National Environment Agency (2002-08); Expert and Eminent Person in the ASEAN Regional Forum (2002–2019); independent Member of Parliament (1997-2001); and to coordinate the country’s equivalent of the Peace Corps (1990-93). He co-chaired a number of national public commissions such as Singapore 21, the Singapore Green Plan and the Singapore Concept Plan 2010. In 2006, Prof Tay received a National Day Award.

Additionally, Tay is a tenured Associate Professor, teaching since 1995 at the National University of Singapore Faculty of Law with a focus on international law. He has also taught as visiting professor at Harvard Law School, the Fletcher School and Yale University. In addition to academic works, his book, Asia Alone: the Dangerous Post Crisis Divide from America (Wiley 2010) was well reviewed in the Economist and Financial Times. His comments and interviews often feature in the international and regional media.

Another aspect of Prof Tay’s work is to advise major corporations. Currently, he is Senior Consultant at WongPartnership, a leading Asian law firm of over 300 lawyers and offices in ASEAN, China and the Middle East. Previously, he served on global advisory boards for MUFG Bank of Japan, and Toyota Japan, and was Corporate Advisor to Temasek Holdings (2006-09). For more than a decade, he served as independent board director for companies including the LGT Bank of Liechtenstein and Deutsche Boerse (Asia). He is often asked to brief major corporate boards and financial institutions and has spoken at leading business conferences including the World Economic Forum, APEC and ASEAN CEO Summits.

Additionally, Tay is a prize winning author of fiction and poetry. His 2010 novel City of Small Blessings was awarded the Singapore Literature Prize and in 2019 he received the SE Asia Write award in recognition of contributions to the region’s writing.

He graduated in law from the National University of Singapore (1986), where he was president of the student union for three terms. He also holds a Masters in Law from Harvard Law School (1993-94), which he attended on a Fulbright Scholarship and where he won the Laylin prize for the best thesis in international law.

He was born in 1961 and is the only son of the late Tay Seow Huah, a pioneer generation civil servant reporting to the Prime Minister and Defence Minister, and the late Madam Cheong Keong Hin, a teacher. Prof Tay is married and has one son.