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Chandran Nair is a Malaysian businessman and scholar. He is the founder of The Global Institute for Tomorrow, an independent think-tank based in Hong Kong. [1] He is also Project Director for The Other Hundred, an international photography competition and photo-book project. [2] [3]
Nair was born in Malaysia, the seventh of eight children. His parents were immigrants to Malaysia from India, and not well off, with all the children sharing a room. He studied chemical engineering in the UK, where he then worked for a few years. At 28, he joined the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa, building sanitation and water systems by day on a stipend and playing the saxophone in his free time in a band. [4] He later earned a master's degree in environmental engineering from Bangkok.
Nair is a member of the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council for Sustainability [5] and has argued at numerous forums including the WEF, APEC [6] and OECD [7] about the need for radical reform of the current economic model and strict limits on consumption. [8] Nair was previously Chairman of Environmental Resources Management (ERM), building the company to be the leading environmental consultancy in Asia Pacific. He left in March 2004. [9]
Nair is a frequent contributor to various media outlets including The Financial Times, [10] The Guardian, [11] The Huffington Post, [12] The New York Times. [13] and South China Morning Post. [14] He is the author of Consumptionomics: Asia's role in reshaping capitalism and saving the planet, named one of the top ten books of 2011 by The Globalist. [15] In 2018 he published The Sustainable State: The Future of Government, Economy, and Society. [16]
On August 26, 2021, Nair wrote an op-ed in Time magazine accusing Nicole Kidman of using her "White Privilege" to avoid being quarantined when arriving in Hong Kong to film the Amazon Prime Video series Expats . Hong Kong's Commerce and Economic Development Bureau (CEDB) responded in a press statement that Kidman received a quarantine exemption for the purpose of performing designated professional work and necessary operation of Hong Kong's economy, [17] and a CEDB permanent secretary wrote a letter to the editor of Time stating that Nair's claim was "not only just misplaced but absurd". [18] [19]
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation is an inter-governmental forum for 21 member economies in the Pacific Rim that promotes free trade throughout the Asia-Pacific region. Following the success of ASEAN's series of post-ministerial conferences launched in the mid-1980s, APEC started in 1989, in response to the growing interdependence of Asia-Pacific economies and the advent of regional trade blocs in other parts of the world; it aimed to establish new markets for agricultural products and raw materials beyond Europe. Headquartered in Singapore, APEC is recognized as one of the highest-level multilateral blocs and oldest forums in the Asia-Pacific region, and exerts significant global influence.
The Four Asian Tigers are the developed East Asian economies of Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan. Between the early 1950s and 1990s, they underwent rapid industrialization and maintained exceptionally high growth rates of more than 7 percent a year.
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Richard A. Boucher is an American diplomat who was deputy secretary-general of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) from 2009 until 2013. He took up post on November 5, 2009. Prior to joining OECD, he was the Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, a post he took up on February 21, 2006. The Bureau of South Asian Affairs was expanded to include the nations of Central Asia shortly before his confirmation.
Fala Chen is a Chinese-American actress. She is known for her roles in Marvel Cinematic Universe superhero film Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and HBO miniseries Irma Vep and The Undoing.
The Pacific Basin Economic Council (PBEC) is an independent business association founded by Weldon B. Gibson in 1967 with the objective of facilitating business in the Asia-Pacific region. It has a rich history of supporting business leaders, academics and Governments across Asia Pacific. It organises and hosts several roundtable dialogue discussions and key events annually as well as provides market intelligence, research papers & policy recommendations on behalf of the APAC business community. It advocates for sustainable & inclusive economic growth through free trade agreements under a fair international rules based system that mitigates climate change & supports societies. The International Secretariat is currently located in Hong Kong and their Chief Executive is Michael Walsh.
Edward Yau Tang-wah, GBS, JP is a Hong Kong politician. He was the Secretary for the Environment from 2007 to 2012, and from 2012 to 2017, he was the Director of the Chief Executive's Office of Hong Kong. He served as Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development from 2017 to 2022.
The APEC Business Travel Card (ABTC) is a travel document issued to business travellers who are citizens of APEC participating economies. Valid for five years, the card eliminates the need for its holder to possess a visa when visiting other APEC participating economies as long as pre-clearance has been obtained during the application process.
Vangelis (Evangelos) Vitalis is a New Zealand diplomat and trade negotiator currently working as the Deputy Secretary for the country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
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The Global Institute For Tomorrow (GIFT) is a Hong Kong–based think tank focusing on economic, political and social issues from an Asian perspective. Founded in 2006 by Chandran Nair, its stated mission is to advance “a deeper understanding of global issues including the shift of economic and political influence from the West to Asia, the dynamic relationship between business and society, the role of the state and the reshaping of the rules of global capitalism.” GIFT opened an office in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 2016.
APEC Vietnam 2017 was the year-long hosting of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings in Vietnam, which culminated with the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in Đà Nẵng, hosted at InterContinental Danang Sun Peninsula Resort. It marked the second time Vietnam played host to the APEC, having hosted the event previously in 2006.
APEC China 2001 was a series of economic and political meetings between the 21 member states of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum held in the People's Republic of China during 2001. Various meetings were held across the country, with leaders from all the member countries meeting 20–21 October 2001 in Shanghai.
APEC Mexico 2002 was a series of political meetings held around Mexico between the 21 member economies of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation during 2002. Leaders from all member countries met from 26–27 October 2002 in Los Cabos. Counter-terrorism efforts were major topics on the agenda of APEC Mexico 2002. The APEC summit attempted to present a new opportunity for Asian investors and commercial agents to discover Mexico as a profitable frontier in the future.
APEC Papua New Guinea 2018 was the year-long hosting of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings in Papua New Guinea.
Expats is an American drama television miniseries created and directed by Lulu Wang, based on the 2016 novel The Expatriates by Janice Y. K. Lee. It premiered on Amazon Prime Video on January 26, 2024. It stars Nicole Kidman as Margaret Woo, an American expatriate living in Hong Kong when tragedy befalls her family.
APEC Malaysia 2020 was the year-long hosting of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings in Malaysia from December 2019 until November 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, most of the meetings were held virtually, including the culminating Economic Leaders' Meeting.
The COVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong is part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. The virus was first confirmed to have spread to Hong Kong on 23 January 2020. Confirmed cases were generally transferred to Princess Margaret Hospital's Infectious Disease Centre for isolation and centralised treatment. On 5 February, after a five-day strike by front-line medical workers, the Hong Kong government closed all but three border control points including Hong Kong International Airport, Shenzhen Bay Control Point, and Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge Control Point remaining open.
APEC New Zealand 2021 was the year-long hosting of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings in New Zealand from December 2020 until November 2021. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was the second consecutive year that all of the meetings were held virtually, including the culminating Economic Leaders' Meeting.
APEC 2022 Thailand is a year-long hosting of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings in Thailand that took place in 2022. Thailand previously hosted APEC meetings in 2003 and 1992.
Chandran Nair's article "Quarantine, What Quarantine? Nicole Kidman, Expats and White Privilege" (posted on August 26) regarding a recent decision to provide a quarantine exemption to personnel involved in the production of a TV series contains assertions that are groundless and speculative.
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