Public Policy (January 2023)

 
YSEALI ACADEMY’S SEMINARS 2023 
PUBLIC POLICY SEMINAR CURRICULUM 
Southeast Asia’s economic integration amid global turbulence  
January 9 – 13, 2023 
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam 
I - TIME AND LOCATION 
Key timeline 
- Application opening: October 20, 2022 
- Info-session webinar: November 4, 2022, 20:00 – 21:00 Hanoi time (tentative) 
- Application deadline: November 14, 2022. 
- Announcement of results: December 12, 2022 
- Pre-seminar online sessions:January 4 – 5, 2023 Seminar dates: January 9 – 13, 2023 (Monday– Friday, in person) 
Location 
Pre-seminar online sessions on January 4-5, 2023: Zoom  
In-person seminar from January 9 – 13, 2023: Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam   
II - PARTICIPANTS 
About 35 YSEALI fellows who are young professionals between the ages of 25-40, highly qualified and motivated, from all 10 ASEAN member states and Timor-Leste.  
Participants are required to commit at least 4 online hours for pre-seminar tasks (group assignments) from January 45, 2022, and at least 42 hours to in-person seminar activities in Vietnam from January 913, 2022 
Therefore, participants are highly recommended to arrange their work to be fully committed during the period to participate productively in and achieve the most from the seminar. 
III - OBJECTIVES AND LEARNING OUTCOME 
Objectives  
- Expand YSEALI fellows’ knowledge and skills of topics related to economic integration in Southeast Asia1, both intra- and extra-regional, that can be applied in participants' careers 
- Build a network with other Southeast Asian professionals for future collaboration in public affairs, including economic development 
Learning outcomes 
Upon graduation, fellows are expected to have a comprehensive picture of the Southeast Asian landscape of economic integration, including emerging trends, opportunities, challenges, and solutions. Fellows would also understand and apply basic economic frameworks and policy tools to analyzing cross-border economic issues. 
IV - THEME AND TOPICS 
1. Major theme Southeast Asia’s economic integration amid global turbulence 
The seminar provides an overview of Southeast Asia’s economic integration, its trends, opportunities, and challenges in the context of current global turbulence, with a focus and perspective on policymaking. It will concentrate on selected issues facing Southeast Asia economic linkages and initiatives, including ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), Free Trade Agreements (FTA), Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CP-TPP), Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) as well as the dynamics of FDI and other capital flows. It will also discuss the impacts on the Southeast Asian economy of global challenges such as COVID and other pandemics, supply chain disruption, rising inflation and tightening policies in large economies, energy tension, China’s economic slowdown, US and other central banks’ tightening policy, US-China confrontation, and the war in Ukraine. 
2. Seminar topics 
Topic 1 – Overview of Southeast Asian economic integration and basic economic frameworks (Dapice) 
As the background for the whole seminar, this section first introduces frameworks as well as policy tools to understand and examine basic relevant issues. It then provides an overview of Southeast Asian economic integration 
e.g., the economic growth of Southeast Asia, the establishment, evolution, and outcomes of the ASEAN FTAs, BRI, RCEP, CP-TPP, and IPEF 
Topic 2Global impacts on Southeast Asia’s extra-economic integration (Thayer, Cunningham) 
After the fundamentals in the previous section, this part will investigate the external economic integration of Southeast Asia. First, it addresses the bilateral connections between Southeast Asian economies and the world’s leading economic powers: the US, China, EU, Japan. It also analyzes the impacts of multilateral linkage such as FTAs between ASEAN and other partners, RCEP, BRI, CP-TPP, IPEF. Second, it probes into the influence on Southeast Asian economic integration of global issues such as COVID, supply chain disruption, the Ukraine war, inflation, energy tension, and climate change. Finally, it will study the geopolitical impacts on the region, including the US-China confrontation, the Taiwan crisis, and maritime disputes.
Topic 3ASEAN’s intra-economic integration: opportunities and challenges (VMK, Dapice) 
This section dives deep into an important but under-discussed theme: the economic connections among ASEAN members. It will address critical issues of intra-integration, including the trends, opportunities, and challenges.  
e.g., FDI and trade among Southeast Asian nations, the impacts of AEC, and how to intensify and leverage internal linkages as a buffer against external turbulence 
Topic 4 – The role of national policy-making and political economy (LTH, VTTA) 
Economic integration is substantially affected by both internal and external contexts. The national factors (such as political economy, domestic reforms, and policymaking) are often under-studied in literature. As the seminar places priority on public policy perspectives, this section examines the impacts of national factors on economic integration.  
V - SEMINAR FORMAT AND STRUCTURE 
Seminar format  
The seminar is conducted in diverse formats to maximize the engagement of participants, including lectures, field trips, panel discussions, team projects (discussed below), and class discussions 
Team project: fellows from at least three nations will work in a team and work on a project related to the seminar theme. They are assigned in groups and start working on the project the week before the seminar. At the end of the seminar, they will deliver a presentation on various issues relevant to the seminar theme e.g., economic growth, digital economy, FDI, infrastructure, supply chain, policymaking, impacts of global challenges...of one or several Southeast Asian nations or major cities or major industries. Comparative and cross-nation analysis and views are appreciated in these team projects which are expected to add practical, diverse, bottom-up, and updated examples and perspectives of Southeast Asia to the seminar. 
Structure  
There are about 30 sessions in total over two weeks (Monday – Friday), 6 sessions/day, witheach session lasts for 90 minutes. There will be 10 lectures, 2 panel discussions, 2 field trips, 3 workshops for leadership and soft skills, 10 sessions for teamwork and team presentations, 1 welcoming session, 1 seminar review session and 1 closing session.  
Week1: Online and pre-seminar sessions 

  

Wednesday, Jan 4 2023 

Thursday, Jan 5 2023 

Saturday, Jan 7 2023 

Sunday, Jan 8 2023 

Evening

 7 pm9 pm  

Introduction (online) 

Teamwork (online) 

All day: Arrival in Ho Chi Minh City 

Morning (9AM-12PM): orientation and teambuilding 

 Afternoon: city tour 

Week 2: In-person seminar schedule (tentative) 
10:00 – 10:15, 15:00 – 15:15, 16:45 – 17:00: Break 

Time 

Day 1 
Monday, 
Jan 9 2023 

Day 2 
Tuesday, 
Jan 10 2023 

Day 3 
Wednesday, 
Jan 11 2023 

Day 4 
Thursday, Jan 12 2023

Day 5
Friday, Jan 13 2023

Day 6
Saturday, Jan 14 2023

8:30-10:00 

9:00 – 10:00: Opening ceremony 

Lecture 3: Overview of SEA economies and integration  

Lecture 7: US-China Decoupling? Not Yet: Analysis and Implications 

Lecture 9: Intra-regional integration (trade, investment) 

Team presentation 1 

Departure 

10:15-11:45 

10:00 -11:15: Networking and cultural session 

11:15 – 12:00: travel back to hotel  

Lecture 4: The Geopolitics of SEA 

Lecture 8: Global Energy Outlook and Risks: Implications for SE Asia 

Lecture 10: The role of policymaking in economic integration 

Team presentation 2 

  

12:00-13:30 

Lunch break 

Lunch break 

Lunch break 

Lunch break 

Lunch break 

  

13:30-15:00 

  

Lecture 1 (Dapice) 

Fundamentals of economic integration 

Lecture 5 (Thayer) 

Global impacts on SEA 

  

Field trip (VSIP – Binh Duong province) 

  

Panel discussion 1: SEA economic integration – FDI and manufacturing sectors  

Seminar review and evaluation 

Departure 

15:15-16:45 

Lecture 2 (VMK) 

Drivers of economic growth and strategic priorities for building sustainable prosperity in ASEAN 

Lecture 6 (VTTA, online) 

The political economy of economic integration: the case of Vietnam 

Field trip  (continued) 

  

Panel discussion 2 

SEA economic integration – Services and start-ups 

16:00 – 17:00: Closing ceremony 

  

17:00-18:30 

Leadership 1 (Suzanne) 

Leadership 2 (Mauri) 

Field trip  (continued) 

Teamwork 

  

Departure 

18:30-19:30 

Dinner 

Dinner 

Dinner  

Dinner 

18:00  

Gala dinner and 

cultural events 

  

19:30-21:00 

Teamwork 

  

Teamwork 

  

Teamwork 

Teamwork 

  

VI - SPEAKERS AND TOPICS  
LECTURERS  
David Dapice, Ph.D., Senior Economist, Vietnam and Myanmar Program, Harvard Kennedy School: Southeast Asia macroeconomic updates; Fundamentals of economic integration  
 Edward Cunningham, Ph.D., Director of Ash Center China Programs and of the Asia Energy and Sustainability Initiative, Harvard Kennedy School: Global energy crisis: implications for SEA economic integration; US-China decoupling 
 Vu Minh Khuong, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore: SEA economic growth drivers and internal integration  
Carlyle Thayer, Ph.D., Emeritus Professor, The University of New South Wales at the Australian Defence Force Academy, Canberra, Australia: The geopolitics of SEA and global impacts (Ukraine war, US-China conflict, regional conflicts) on SEA economic integration  
Vu Thanh Tu Anh, Ph.D., former Dean of the Fulbright School of Public Policy and Management, Fulbright University Vietnam: the political economy of economic integration: the case of Vietnam (online session). 
Le Thai Ha (Ms.), Ph.D., Managing Director of the VinFuture Prize, VinFuture Foundation, former Director of Research of the Fulbright School of Public Policy and Management, Fulbright University Vietnam: the policy making of economic and financial integration. 
Suzanne C. de Janasz (Ms.), Ph.D., George Mason University: leadership training  
Maury Peiperl, Ph.D., Professor and Senior Fellow, George Mason University: leadership training  
PANELISTS 
Panel 1 – Economic Integration: FDI and Manufacturing Sector 
Frederick (Fred) R. Burke, Senior Advisor, Baker & McKenzie (Vietnam) Ltd. 
 Michael Luong, CEO, Asia Clean Capital Vietnam Company Ltd. 
Kheng Joo Ung, Managing Director, First Solar Vietnam Manufacturing Co., Ltd.  
 Bui Kim Thuy (Ms.), Senior Country Representative – Vietnam, US – ASEAN Business Council (USABC)
 Tommy Koh, Senior Assistant Director, ASEAN Division, Ministry of Trade and Industry, Singapore  
Moderator: Huynh Trung Dung, Lead Faculty for Public Policy, YSEALI Academy 
Panel 2 – Economic Integration: Start-ups and Services Sectors 
Ly Qui Trung, Ph.D., Adjunct Professor and Senior Advisor to the President of Western Sydney University in Australia 
Le Thi Anh Nguyet (Ms.), Ph.D., Legal and Compliance Manager, Fulbright University Vietnam  
Bui Kim Thuy (Ms.), Senior Country Representative – Vietnam, US – ASEAN Business Council (USABC)  
Tommy Koh, Senior Assistant Director, ASEAN Division, Ministry of Trade and Industry, Singapore 
Le Thai Ha (Ms.), Ph.D., Managing Director of the VinFuture Prize, VinFuture Foundation, former Director of Research of the Fulbright School of Public Policy and Management, Fulbright University Vietnam  
Moderator: Huynh Trung Dung, Lead Faculty for Public Policy, YSEALI Academy