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The Asian

Economic Panel

(AEP) Friends

Divina Blanco-Nidhiprabha
16 April 2024 AEP, Seoul 2018 Group photo

The Asian Economic Panel (AEP) is a grouping of expert economists from various parts
of the world who meet three times a year to discuss and analyze papers on economic issues that
pertain to either the subregion of Asia or particular Asian countries. Membership of the Panel
is by invitation only. The papers discussed are chosen from open submissions or solicited from

experts in the relevant topic. A carefully selected subset of the papers submitted and presented at
AEP meetings is published in the Asian Economic Papers, a journal of the MIT Press. 1
Amongst the AEP members who went on to serve their countries, and international agencies,
with great distinction were Chalongphob Sussangkarn and Chatib Basri, who served as Minister of

Finance in their home countries, Thailand and Indonesia, respectively. Kiyohiko Nishimura served
as the Deputy Governor of the Bank of Japan. Mari Pangestu served as Indonesia’s Minister of
Trade and, later, as Managing Director of Development Policy and Partnerships at the World Bank.
Warwick McKibbin served on the Board of the Reserve Bank of Australia, and was awarded the

Order of Australia in 2016. Naoyuki Yoshino served as Dean of the Asian Development Bank
Institute. At present (April 2024), Inkyo Cheong, Yunjong Wang, Iikka Korhonen and Fukunari
Kimura are serving, respectively, as Korea’s Minister of Trade, Korea’s Deputy National Security
Adviser, Head of the Bank of Finland Institute of Emerging Economics, and President of Institute

of Developing Economics. And Jeffrey Sachs is the President of the United National Sustainable
Development Solutions Network (SDSN), and an adviser to many countries on how to initiate
sustained economic dynamism, fight climate change, protect biodiversity, and enhance social
2
inclusion.

1 Drawn from https://direct.mit.edu/asep/pages/panel
2 Information kindly provided by Wing Thye Woo, Convener of the AEP.

Bhanupong Nidhiprabha 79