Prita Kemal Gani together with few of her management staff attended the Jakarta Foreign Correspondent Club Luncheon last March 18, 2015 at Intercontinental Hotel. Its a lunch discussion with Her Excellency Nina Hachigian, U.S. Ambassador to ASEAN. The topic includes U.S. diplomatic and economic relations with Asean, what’s in store in 2015, and the long-term economic and security challenges.
The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations has a combined population of more than 600 million and an economy that would be the 7th largest in the world if it was a single entity. Given its fast-growing economies and strategic position between the Asian giants of China and India, it’s no surprise that the U.S. is keen to maintain a strong diplomatic presence here.
Nina Hachigian took up the Jakarta-based role of U.S. Ambassador to Asean last September, following jobs at the Center for American Progress, the RAND Corporation and on the staff of the National Security Council in the White House. The author of numerous reports, articles and op-ed pieces on Asia, Ambassador Hachigian co-wrote: The Next American Century: How the U.S. Can Thrive as Other Powers Rise.
