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Dr. Ganeshan Wignaraja, Executive Director at the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute of International Relations and Strategic Studies (LKI), was recently invited to participate in a programme on foreign policies and security organised by the Korea Foundation on 7-13 April 2019. The high-level participants included deputy ministers, ambassadors and heads of think tanks involved in international relations and strategic studies. 

As a part of the programme, Dr. Wignaraja delivered a series of special lectures on the economic outlook of Asia and implications for East Asia at the Graduate School of Seoul National University (SNU), Korea University, and the Catholic University of Korea.

He emphasised that while the world’s centre of economic gravity is shifting to Asia, the region remains interconnected with Western markets for final demand and sources of foreign investment. Accordingly, a global economic slowdown induced by trade tensions between the US and China, Brexit, and a slowdown in China is affecting Asia’s economic prospects. Furthermore, he noted that countries like Korea are living in the shadow of regional security tensions. He suggested that diplomatic dialogue, coordinated macroeconomic policies, and deepening structural reforms in Asia are necessary to mitigate adverse effects from a global economic slowdown and rising security concerns.