Columbia | SIPA

If you don’t learn about China and energy, you’re missing half the story.

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SIPA Visiting Professor Manuel Pinho, Director of the International Energy MBA at the Lisbon Institute and former Minister of Economy and Innovation of the Portuguese Government.

Professor Pinho will be teaching at Renmin University in Beijing this summer.

“The course I will teach there is a short version of my SIPA course,” said Pinho. “My focus being energy, I’m excited to be going to China.”

Pinho explained that over the next 25 years, more than 90% of increased energy demand and consumption will come from non-OECD countries. China is already the leading consumer, and will continute to be so.

“I am really looking forward to teach Chinese students and also to get more knowledge about energy in China,” he said. “China has always been an important part of my courses at SIPA, and I think it will be even more so in the future.”

Pinho plans to meet with folks working in companies in the energy sector, which he says are the largest companies in the world, with the most innovation and investment. That’s why he finds it very important to get to know them better.

“It’s great to go somewhere with such intense activity in energy,” he said. “I’m very excited to go to China and then to have the opportunity to share my experience with my SIPA students.

I’ve been teaching at SIPA for two years, and, by the day, I see that there’s more interest by students. The demand for information about China increased dramatically in just one year. I expect this will continue to increase because students understand the importance of China and energy.”

- Michelle Chahine

The Rise of BRIC: Impact on Global Policymaking

SIPA’s inaugural BRICLab Conference was held on December 2 at Columbia University’s Low Memorial Library, co-sponsored by Forum das Americas and HSBC.

The co-directors of the BRICLab, Christian Deseglise and Marcos Troyjo, introduced the new initiative, which aims to focus on the BRIC countries - Brazil, Russia, India, and China - and their impact on the global scene.

“November 30 was the 10-year anniversary of the BRIC concept,” said Deseglise. “The BRICs are very different countries. It is very difficult to compare them… The concept of BRIC is hard to define, but the intuition that they are in a league of their own and have the potential to impact the world is still there. The next 50 years will be shaped by what BRIC countries want for themselves and their elite; what BRIC countries want for and from the world.”

The first session of the conference was moderated by James Crombie, editor of Bloomberg Brief, and include the Vice President of Brazil Michel Temer.

“We need this BRICLab,” said Temer. “Are we going to head to a legal, institutional and juridical nature of BRIC like in Europe? To break customs, borders. I do believe that defining what BRIC is, is fundamental. We need to take into account these countries… I hope we can in this discussion come to a conclusion that begins to suggest the nature of BRIC.

The second panel discussion was moderated by CNN International anchor Luis Velez, and included remarks from Stefan Wagstyl, emerging markets editor at the Financial Times. During the Q-and-A, Wagstyl addressed to possibility of the BRICs working together as a unit, but said conflict is inevitable.

“China is the biggest opponent of a permanent seat for India on the United Nations Security Council,” he said. “The BRICs couldn’t agree on a candidate for IMF director and lost an opportunity to demonstrate their influence.”

The final session of the conference focused on the changing power and business dynamics brought on by the rise of the “B” in BRIC - Brazil. It featured remarks by Sergio Cabral Filho, Governor of the state of Rio de Janeiro.

We just elected the first woman president, and I see a brilliant future for Brazil. All regions of Brazil are undergoing development. There is not doubt that the BRICLab will have a lot to debate and study.”

SIPA Dean John Coatsworth delivered the closing remarks. In an editorial featured in a Special Edition of VOTO magazine about the BRICLab, Dean Coatsworth wrote:

The BRICLab will promote SIPA and Columbia University as a destination for current and future BRIC leaders to discuss topics important to their nations’ development… The BRICLab will inititally offer a 14-week graduate course and guest speakers, programs through SIPA’s Picker Center for Executive Education, and an annual conference for policymakers, business and academic leaders, and students.

This event was live-tweeted @ColumbiaSIPA. For more quotes and description, click here for an archive of tweets from the event.

-Michelle Chahine

We need symbols of togetherness. We need symbols of understanding.

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Admiral William Owens, Chairman of AEA Investors, Asia and former Vice Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff

China: Economic and Trade Relations

Keynote speaker Admiral William Owens praised the dialogue that rose from a high-level conference on China’s economic and trade relations, hosted at SIPA on November 10.

The all-day interdisciplinary discussion brought together leading experts from academia, government, and the private sector to discuss the economic tensions and opportunities in the relationships between China and developed economies. The sessions highlighted trade, investment, capital markets, and technology.

The conference was organized by Professor Merit E. Janow, director of SIPA’s International Finance and Economic Policy concentration. It was structured as an off-the-record round-table event to allow participants to speak candidly, thus fostering open debate and uninhibited exchange of ideas in a brainstorming spirit.

Professor Janow encouraged participants to be bold and think freely about ideas to promote relations between China and the developed world.

“I thought it was really thorough in its coverage of the areas of trade, finance, investment, and relationship,” said Admiral Owens, after the final session of the day.

“I think Professor Janow brought together a strong group of people from government, academia and the private sector. I hope that she can continue this dialogue because it is incredibly important – the relationship between the U.S. and China is of the utmost importance. Unfortunately, there aren’t enough opportunities for dialogue of this quality.”

In addition to interdisciplinary experts on China, there were strong voices from other Pacific Rim nations, including Japan.

Taizo Nishimuro, an adviser and the former chairman of Toshiba Corporation, emphasized the importance of a good relationship, communication, and economic cooperation between China and Japan, not only in relation to each other, but in relation to the world stage and globalization.

“The interdependence of Japan and China has increased immensely,” said Mr. Nishimuro during his keynote address.

“I understand that this is the first occasion that this type of meeting is taking place out here, and I think this is very educative because all the people here know China well. The general overview is this conference was very valuable.”

Zhang Lanlan, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of CICC US Securities, Inc., was a voice from China.

“I think this is a very good event,” said Lanlan. “It brings people from different perspectives and angles together. After that, I think everyone will be able to understand what the Chinese thinking could be, and I think Mr. Chen [Chen Zhiwu, Professor of Finance, Yale School of Management] made a very good point that we should spend time on each other’s territories to understand each other better.”

Although the event was closed to general observers, a few students who are focusing on China in the IFEP concentration were invited to listen. Among them was Ehsan Iraniparast (MIA ’12), who served as note-taker. He is a fellow at the Columbia University Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Study Center (APEC), a sponsor of the event.

“It seems a recurring theme… is that there’s a lot of misperception, and a lot of it is due to societal and cultural issues,” said Ehsan. “We don’t get how their businesses and governments operate, and they don’t understand how we operate domestically.”

“What’s encouraging is, the people here, they seem to get it,” Ehsan continued. “You see that there are a lot of people who do understand, but pushing it to the top level so the U.S. government and Chinese government can convey the right messages – that seems to be the challenge.”

Other participants included:

· Arvind Panagariya, Professor of Indian Political Economy at SIPA

· Jeffrey Shafer, Adjunct Professor at SIPA; former Vice Chairman of Global Banking, Citigroup; former Under Secretary of Treasury for International Affairs

· Wei Shang-Jin, N. T. Wang Professor of Chinese Business and Economy, Columbia Business School; Director of the Jerome A. Chazen Institute of International Business

· David Loevinger, Executive Secretary and Senior Coordinator for China Affairs and the Strategic and Economic Dialogue, U.S. Treasury

· Frank Hatheway, Chief Economist, NASDAQ OMX Group Inc.

· Olin Wethington, Chairman, Wethington International; former Chair, AIG Asia

· Xue Lan, Executive Associate Dean of School of Public Policy and Management and Executive Vice President of the Development Research Academy for the 21st Century, Tsinghua University

· Michitaka Nakatomi, Principal Trade Negotiator, Ministry of Economics, Trade and Industry of Japan

Organized by Professor Janow, the conference was sponsored by SIPA; Columbia Business School’s Center on Japanese Economy and Business and Jerome E. Chazen Institute of International Business; Columbia Law School; Weatherhead East Asia Institute; Center for International Business Education and Research; and Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Study Center.

- Michelle Chahine