CONFERENCE REPORT

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Concept Paper 1

Programme of Events 6

Profile of Speakers and Session Chairs 16

Executive Summary 28

Conference Report

CALD-EFN Asia Joint Session 30 Saumura Tioulong 32 Sin Chung-kai 33 Parth Shah 33 Jay Kun Yoo 33 Sethaput Suthiwart-Narueput 34

CALD-LI Conference Juli Minoves-Triquell 35 Oyun Sanjaasuren 36 37

World Café on the Conference Theme 37

Updates on Political Developments in Taiwan, Thailand, and Bi-khim Hsiao 39 Kasit Piromya 41 42

CALD Women’s Caucus Seminar on Migrant Workers Monovithya Kem 43 Henedina Abad 44

Session on Migrant Workers Rights as Human Rights Chito Gascon 46 Rajiva Wijesinha 47 Open Forum 48

UN Mechanism on Protection of Migrant Workers 49

CONCEPT PAPER

The heart of the liberal philosophy is a belief in the dignity of the individual, in his freedom to make the most of his capacities and opportunities according to his own lights…This implies a belief in the equality of man in one sense; in their inequality in another. Milton Friedman Capitalism and Freedom (1962) Recipient of Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences (1976)

…inequality is not inevitable… It is not the result of the laws of nature or the laws of economics. Rather, it is something that we create, by our policies, by what we do… It is plain that the only true and sustainable prosperity is shared prosperity.

Joseph Stiglitz Speech in the AFL-CIO Convention (2013) Recipient of Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences (2001)

…liberal economic policies, especially free trade, have been much more successful at producing lasting growth than policies of state intervention. Otto Graf Lambsdorff Liberty – The Best Remedy Against Poverty (2002) Former German Minister of the Economy and Former Chairman of the Board, Friedrich Naumann Foundation

…the price of increased prosperity is the constant defense of free market policies, which, as liberals well know, ultimately means the defense of individual freedom. Juan Carlos Hidalgo The Rise of Emerging Economies: Challenges and Liberal Perspectives (2013) Policy Analyst, Cato Institute’s Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity

Liberalism is said to be the ideology of the 21st century. Writing in the aftermath of Soviet Union’s dissolution, American philosopher and economist Francis Fukuyama observed, “What we may be witnessing is not just the end of the Cold War, or the passing of a particular period of postwar history, but the end of history as such: that is, the end point of mankind’s ideological evolution and the universalization of Western liberal democracy as the final form of human government.” The argument generated substantial debate, which persists up to this day. Corollary to this debate is the implication of liberalism on the economy, particularly in terms of generating economic growth and reducing inequality.

The influence of liberalism on the global economy has been evident even before the end of the Cold War. The creation of the Bretton Woods institutions at the end of World War II is said to usher in a truly economic system. This system, it was claimed, could enhance the possibilities of postwar peace. As noted by then US Secretary of State Cordell Hull (1933-1944): “…unhampered trade dovetailed with peace; high tariffs, trade barriers, and unfair economic competition, with war…if we could get a freer flow of trade…freer in the sense of fewer discriminations and obstructions…so that one country would not be deadly jealous of

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another and the living standards of all countries might rise, thereby eliminating the economic dissatisfaction that breeds war, we might have a reasonable chance of