Roundtable on re-thinking the role of regionalism: perspectives from Asia and the Americas

The purpose of the seminar is to revisit the debate on regional integration from two distinct regional perspectives - the Americas and South-East Asia.

The debate will be launched by Pierre Sauvé, Visiting Professor at the College of Europe, Deputy Managing Director and Director of Studies at the World Trade Institute, University of Bern. His introduction will be followed by two presentations:

Roberto Echandi, Director of the International Investment Initiative at the World Trade Institute, University of Bern and former Ambassador of Costa Rica to the EU, will focus on the case of the Americas and Cédric Dupont, Professor of International Relations at the Graduate Institute of International Studies, Geneva, will use the case of regionalism in South-East Asia.

The presentation will be followed by comments from two discussants: Stephen Woolcock, Programme Director for the Masters in International Political Economy at the London School of Economics, Director of the International Trade Policy Unit at LSE, as well as Associate Research Fellow at UNU-CRIS, and Christophe Kiener, Assistant to the Deputy Director-General, DG Trade, European Commission.