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From the meeting:
Singapore Senior Minister: “Good leadership is critical”
Singapore's recommendations to foster innovation and competitiveness
Sunday 24 June
Complacency may be Asia's greatest risk
Ralph R. Peterson, Chairman and CEO, CH2M HILL Companies, USA
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Good leadership is critical to achieving strong economic growth, Goh Chok Tong, Singapore’s Senior Minister, told participants at the closing session of the 16th World Economic Forum on East Asia. “If you don’t have a government that understands the importance of macroeconomic policies, investment in education, and how to manage socioeconomic divisions in a country, it would be difficult for an economy to thrive,” Goh said. During the closing session, Goh and other panellists discussed the results of a survey of participants aimed at identifying the top priorities for East Asia. Nor Mohamed Yakcop, Malaysia’s Second Minister of Finance, invited participants to take part in the next World Economic Forum on East Asia in Kuala Lumpur on 15-16 June 2008.
Sharing Singapore’s recipe for always being ranked highly for competitiveness, Lim Siong-Guan, Chairman, Singapore Economic Development Board, recommended a heavy dose of “LSD” or “Lead, Speed and Differentiation” to encourage innovation in Asia. Addressing the poor track record of IPR protection in some Asian countries as a stumbling block to innovation, Liu Jiren, Chairman and CEO, Neusoft, People's Republic of China, said that while software piracy is still a problem in China, he believed the country is making strides on the issue.
New Forum report explores financial services' innovation and globalization
The West should stop the hypocritical blame game and work collectively with developing countries to fix the global warming problems, Asian panellists in a session on sustainable growth said on the second day of the World Economic Forum on East Asia. While agreeing that the West and the East are "all in this together," Ralph Peterson, Chairman and CEO, CH2M HILL Companies in the US, said the manner in which Asian countries are consuming energy is serious cause for concern. Masatoshi Wakabayashi, Minister of the Environment of Japan, said there is a need for a new global mechanism to achieve the G8 objective of reducing greenhouse emissions by half in 2050.
While East Asia and the world are confronted with the mounting and increasingly complex challenges of globalization, the region’s leaders are capable of meeting those tests, the President of the Philippines, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, told participants at the opening session of the World Economic Forum on East Asia. “The region has any number of able leaders of strong nations, as well as institutions like ASEAN to provide individual, regional and multilateral global leadership," Arroyo said. 
With Asia enjoying the kind of economic growth and investment it hasn’t seen in a decade, the greatest risk to its stability and prosperity may be simple complacency – complacency over growing financial pressures, over the growing cost of climate change and over the potentially explosive results of yawning income disparities across the region.
Despite abundant natural resources, Asia remains a net energy importer. The need for energy security is growing in the face of rising oil prices amid increasing scarcity and concerns about carbon emissions and global warming. Asian nations need to work to reduce their dependence on fossil fuels by promoting renewable energy, said Idris Jusoh, Chief Minister of Terengganu, Malaysia. Tokio Kanoh, Chief Director, Committee on Economy and Industry, House of Councillors, Japan, stressed the need to use technology to make existing industry cleaner and reduce carbon emissions.
"If it could be demonstrated that Asia’s economic growth is a shining beacon that is going to take the cost arbitrage from pollution and reinvest it in sustainable growth, then it will reverse Western protectionism."
"Forums like this are valuable opportunities for us to look over the horizon, discuss possible scenarios, and exchange ideas on how we can minimise the chances of bad outcomes.”
“East Asia has succeeded in integrating itself globally, but to succeed, it needs to have equitable growth internally.” 
"It's about what we do for society, about how we build that social license, how we remember that the value we add back to society is what allows us to operate."
"For Korea and most other Asian countries, the major challenge will be education and the continuing build up of a pool of managers."
