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Asia is emerging from financial crisis, thanks in part to early cooperation
extended by the United States and Carolina, Thailand's ambassador to the United
States told local business and trade leaders in Chapel Hill on May 1.
"I was in Bangkok on New Year's Eve 1997," Ambassador Tej Bunnag said. "I was
taken to the best hotel in Chinatown, which is normally neon-lit and loud. We
went to the restaurant on the top floor and we were the only table. I looked
down on Chinatown and they'd switched off all the lights. I knew then we were
in deep trouble. Now, several years later, the lights are back on in
Chinatown."
Bunnag spoke at a noon luncheon at the Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute of Private
Enterprise, co-hosted with the World Trade Center North Carolina. It was part
of his two-day visit May 1-2 to the University to explore ways to expand
mutually beneficial collaboration between Carolina and his country.
The University is engaged in a plethora of educational and development
initiatives, particularly in the areas of environmental management and public
health. Many of them are coordinated or initiated by the Kenan Institute
through its Kenan Institute Asia and Kenan Institute in Washington.
"During the early stages of the crisis, good work was carried out by Kenan
Institute Asia, especially through the AERA Program," Bunnag said in his
luncheon address. AERA (Accelerating Economic Recovery in Asia), funded by the
U.S. Agency for International Development, is a managerial and technical
assistance program that has helped to accelerate Thailand's economic recovery
and make it more sustainable.
Recovery has been faster than anyone could have predicted, Bunnag said.
"What is very satisfying is that trade is in our favor. We have a trade
surplus with the United States of around $9 billion, which makes me popular
with my government," Bunnag said.
Bunnag's first visit to Chapel Hill was designed to brief him on the
collaborative efforts now under way between Carolina and Thailand. It was
coordinated by the Kenan Institute, the University Center for International
Studies (UCIS) and the College of Arts and Sciences at the request of William
Itoh, former U.S. Ambassador to Thailand. Itoh is serving as
ambassador-in-residence at the Kenan Institute and is on the Advisory Board for
International and Area Studies for UCIS and the College of Arts and Sciences.
The College of Arts and Sciences plans to expand its educational and exchange
activities in Asia in such areas as study abroad and student internships,
faculty exchange and collaborative research, and alumni networking.
Bunnag met with Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Robert Shelton; College
of Arts and Sciences Dean Risa Palm, Senior Associate Dean Richard Soloway and
Study Abroad Director Robert Miles; Kenan-Flagler Business School Dean Robert
Sullivan, Kenan Institute Director John D. Kasarda and Sustainable Enterprise
Initiative Director and Kenan-Flagler management professor Stuart Hart; UCIS
Director James Peacock; and Carolina Environmental Program (CEP) Director Bill
Glaze.
Bunnag also participated in a student panel discussion on U.S.-Thai relations
sponsored by the University's Great Decisions Series. He attended a reception
with the Southeast Asian Faculty Working Group, professors from the College of
Arts and Sciences interested in expanding faculty and student opportunities in
the region.
He met with North Carolina environmental technology and services companies for
dinner, hosted by UCIS and co-sponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences,
CEP, Black & Veatch International Co. and Research Triangle Institute. The
dinner followed up on a North Carolina trade mission Itoh took to Thailand and
Vietnam last year.
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