In the long term, we’ll see 800 million to one billion new consumers in China, India, and some to extent Vietnam. This is a huge opportunity for companies …. [but] to get people to buy more, you can’t just give them money. Governments must work on reforming social security and healthcare, and have the right infrastructure in place.

There is a historical context to trade relations between the Middle East and Asia but we are just now startin to see that these links have a lot of room to grow.

It’s too early to tell how the current crisis will play out. The key issue is whether Asia can decouple from the US. What China does to get out of the crisis will determine East Asia’s direction.

Before, when the US was the clear leader, it was successful because of its freedom of thought. You could express yourself without putting yourself in danger. That’s the key point for Asia. Can it develop into a region with freedom of thought? I don’t quite feel this is happening yet.

The world needs to have closer coopera-tion and coordination, not only among major economies and major countries, but within the government and the private sector”

A second thing I think will be very important…will be to ensure as growth is rebuilt, as the world economy comes back into recovery, that we do so on a basis that is sustainable, on a basis that is actually helping the bottom billion, bringing them into a world in which they can enjoy more the fruits of globalisation. Otherwise I think the political legitimacy, the social legitimacy of the economic growth will be undermined.

With healthcare and pensions almost nonexistent in most countries in Asia, the US consumer will slow down much more quickly than the Asian consumer can come up.

East Asia already, before the crisis, was regarded as a region of the world of increased important and influence. What is more important now is to consider, given the economic imbalances which have been exposed by past models of the economy, to explore the new growth models.

Trying to make sense of Asia today is like trying to put together a jigsaw puzzle where the shapes and colours are changing at the same time.

The risk is that we don’t take advantage of this period to drive overdue reforms.

What keeps me awake at night is that there are two faces of Asia, one shining one that is doing very well, and the other where 900 million live below a dollar twenty-five a day … If Asia is to be what it should at the table of nations, these faces should converge.

The top priority for Korean businesses should be strengthening their competitiveness – business efficiency, streamlining structure, expanding R&D, and developing new goods and services.