So I had an opportunity to attend this Executive Education Programme on cross-border trade and value chains management in SE Asia at NUS Business School in Singapore a couple of weeks ago. The programme ended up being so enriching, with perspectives and thoughts shared among instructor, speakers, and participants comprising of professionals from a variety of background. Prof Alex Capri did a great job bringing in a good mix of academic experts as well as cross-border trade and global value chains professionals to provide many great practical insights to the programme participants.

Among distinguished speakers include; Marcus Bartley Johns, the World Bank’s Senior Trade Specialist, who talked on regional trade agreement with particular focus on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP); Prof Kai Ostwald from the University of British Columbia who provided insights on the Canada-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement initiation; Dr. Deborah Elms who presented about the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP); Prof Lawrence Loh of NUS on the implementation of anti-bribery, anti-corruption, ethical business practices and sustainable value chains in ASEAN. Especially Prof Alex Capri who ran us through a variety of important topics such as the regional business landscape, trend in economic, technological innovations and government policies that are transforming value chains in ASEAN, China’s One Road One Belt Initiative, amongst others.

In overall, the programme was very insightful and made absolute sense in terms of the principles and their application. I appreciated for having the opportunity to attend. In addition, I feel honoured and proud at the same time to be a beneficiary of the IDRC’s scholarship and grant for my programme participation.

If anyone considers joining, here is the link: http://executive-education.nus.edu/.