“While 21st Century is expected to be the Asian Century, it is also not to be taken for granted especially since many expect that this is a foregone conclusion. But as the recent Asian crisis had shown us, the Asian development miracle is recent and shallow, which still needs careful monitoring of the emerging challenges to enable the countries respond accordingly. Not many consulting companies provide this kind of service – that is why Strategic Asia is unique and is also timely in its establishment,” Arifin Siregar, former Ambassador to the USA and Governor of Central Bank said at the launch ceremony of Strategic Asia, held at the Four Seasons Hotel, Jakarta.
The launch marks the operations of Strategic Asia, an Asian company dedicated to promoting a collective and strategic policy approach to solving emerging problems in Asia through a combination of policy research, advisory and training services. Noke Kiroyan and Agus Widjojo, the Directors of Strategic Asia stressed that while Strategic Asia is expected to undertake consultancy services in a wide range of Asian countries, its primary focus will be in, and with respect to, three of the most populous countries in the region: Indonesia, India and China. Strategic Asia believes that the story of the 21st Century, often labelled as the Asian Century, will be determined by the political, social and the economic development trajectory of these key countries. “Strategic Asia stands ready to provide a comprehensive service package to its clients, which ranges from governments, key civil society organizations, private firms, and media groups”, Agus Widjojo said in concluding his introduction of the new company.
Prominent Indonesians and foreigners representing various institutions were also present at the event, among others: Coordinating Minister for People’s Welfare Aburizal Bakrie, Minister for Development Planning Paskah Suzetta, Chairman of Constitutional Court Jimly Ashiddique, and former Ministers Arifin Siregar, Sarwono Kusumaatmadja, Presidential Economic Adviser Sjahrir, media tycoon Jacob Oetama, and CEOs of major trans-national firms such as Anthony Salim, Sofjan Wanandi, Ambassadors from the Asian and EU countries. Civil society leaders, such as Syafii Maarif, Mohammad Sobary, H.S Dillon were also present at the event.
Earlier in the day, a round table discussion for the Asian Century : Perspectives and Challenges” was held at the Strategic Asia’s premises, featuring Satish Mishra, Managing Director of Strategic Asia as the speaker. Mr. Mishra highlighted the fact the 20th century has witnessed a sea of change in the dynamics of global power and finance in the world and that much of the changes is happening in Asia. The region’s experience cannot be easily compared to those in other parts of the world. There is recognition that local capacity is needed to develop a renewed focus on political and business strategy which any government and business in would need to manage the many systemic changes it will inevitably bring and to avoid its many pitfalls which accompanies this global phenomenon. And that is why the establishment of Strategic Asia is an important endeavour to fill in the gap in strategic policy
thinking for this purpose, as concluded by Mr. Mishra in his presentation.
The Board of Directors includes a group of senior prominent individuals with distinguished career history: headed by Satish Mishra, former Head/Chief Adviser of the UNSFIR team, which incubated the Strategic Asia capacity with professional experience that includes high-level assigments at OECD, USAID, World Bank in over 40 countries across Asia, Africa and Europeas, Adrianus Mooy, former Governor of Central Bank of Indonesia and Executive Secretary of UN-ESCAP;Let.Gen (ret) Agus Widjojo, former Vice Chairman of MPR and TNI’s Territorial Affairs; Marzuki Darusman, a long serving veteran in the political arena and former Indonesian Attorney General; Noke Kiroyan, currently President Director of Newmont Pacific Nusantara, a subsidiary of Newmont, and former CEO for Rio Tinto Indonesia and Kelian Equatorial Mining; H.E. Hemant Singh, one of India’s most distinguished and senior diplomats, currently serving as India’s Ambassador to Japan,and until June of this year was Ambassador to Indonesia.; Prabowo, a senior economist and trade specialist with more than 3 decades of experience in research and training in a number of key research institutions and business management schools; and Roland Lindenthal, a well seasoned development expert with more than 18 years of experience in development economics, employment and labour market policy in several countries.
The company will be opening up offices in the near future in India and China, as well as set up a training and conference center located in Bali.
