This workshop will be conducted together with the Konrad-Adenauer-Centre for Journalism at the Ateneo University. Journalism Education for working journalists is best conducted online, thus enabling the students to work - regardless of their location of assignment - and study at the same time. Lecturers of online and offline courses are participating in this workshop and will be sharing their experiences with different methods of teaching, resulting in a better understanding of the advantages and disadvantages, thus providing the participants with a better insight.

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The 12th international conference of the East and Southeast Asia Network for Better Local Governments (ESEA) is jointly organised by Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung in Singapore and the Local Government Development Foundation (LOGODEF) in Manila.

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Journalists covering crisis in this time of conflicts all over the region would benefit from this workshop. The emphasis is on how to analyze the conflict, write about it subjectively and survive - during the coverage as well as after having the article published about the theme. Participants for this workshop are coming from crisis areas such as Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Vietnam. After this workshop, they are expected to act as multiplicators and pass on the newly acquired knowledge and experiences to their colleagues.

Next: Reporting Conflict, Kuala Lumpur 2005

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This is a follow-up to the annual EU-ASEAN Think-Tank dialogue, with the theme on "East Asia, EU and the US: Recent Developments, Challenges, and Prospects for Inter-Regional Cooperation". The Dialogue will be attended by participants from ASEAN-ISIS, experts from Japan, Korea and China, and members from the EU Commission and the EU Parliaments.

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"Vision Asia: Imagine….2015" will be the theme under which the "Young Leaders' Forum" will meet from 1st September to 4th of September 2004 in Singapore’s "Fullerton Hotel". 20 young leaders who have already proven their outstanding abilities in various fields, will discuss about future aspects of Asia in politics, economics, culture and media.
The new Prime Minister of Singapore, H.E. Lee Hsien Loong, is invited as Keynote speaker. Tan Sri Musa Hitam, the former Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia, has agreed to hold the lecture on the political future of this region.
The event will be organized by the world’s largest news-network, the Asia News Network (ANN) and the Singapore Office of the German based Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung.
Further participants will be 14 publishers or editors-in-chief of ANN. Two days of highly qualified lectures and intense discussion will cast a light on the expectations, hopes and fears of young leaders for their respective countries and thus, the region.

The accompanying booklet is now available for download as a pdf file.

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With the theme of "The Encounter of Two Continents", the second workshop of the Forum for East Asia-Latin America Cooperation (FEALAC) will focus on topics like "The Importance of Institutions when Transaction Costs Matter", "What Needs to be done to Promote Cross-Pacific Trade" as well as "The Progress of FEALAC as a Platform for the Reduction of the Social, Political and Economic Divide". Participants are from member countries of FEALAC, including Singapore, Chile, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines.

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This year's ASEAN Roundtable, organised by ISEAS and supported by Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, focuses on "Reforming Corporate Governance in Southeast Asia: Economic Realities, Political Institutions, Regulatory Frameworks". Topics that will be discussed include Political Institutions/Capacity and Corporate Governance in Southeast Asia, Economic Crisis and Corporate Governance Reforms in Southeast Asia as well as corporate governance in selected Southeast Asian countries.

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The inaugural Asian Law Institute conference will be held in the National University of Singapore. The theme explored is "The Role of Law in a Developing Asia", and the conference will touch on several wide-ranging issues and sub-themes regarding law in a developing Asia. Topics range from constitutional reform, the administration of justice, Asian legal traditions to international trade and investment and harmonisation of commercial law in Asia. Legal experts from Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Germany will be sponsored by Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung to participate and to share their insights on the topics.

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The upcoming 5th Asian-European Forum in Bangkok wil be inaugurated by Thailand's Prime Minister, His Excellency Thaksin Shinawatra. As in the past years, this forum will provide invited Asian and European editors with first-hand insights into the political and economic situation of the respective country. This year's event is jointly organised with "The Nation", our partner in Thailand. The focus of the forum is on the current situation in Thailand as well as on Asian-European issues such as "Security" and "Economic Recovery in Southeast Asia". High ranking political leaders and leading journalists will participate in this forum.

Next: Sixth Asian-European Editors’ Forum, Jakarta 2005

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The workshop addresses a wide range of economic and non-traditional security cooperation issues such as economic security, human security, environment, resource management, external actors and community building, and is attended by various Vietnamese Institutions (Institute of World Economics and Politics, Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM), Vietnam Asia-Pacific Economic Center (VAPEC) and National Mekong Committee). Attending participants are experts from various Vietnamese Institutions (Institute of World Economics and Politics, Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM), Vietnam Asia-Pacific Economic Center (VAPEC) and National Mekong Committee).

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This public lecture, sponsored by Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung and organised by the Singapore Institute of International Affairs (SIIA), deals with the topic of corruption. Corruption is an important issue for companies and governments throughout the region. Malaysia has witnessed steps to address this issue since the appointment of Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi, with notable investigations of both private sector businessmen and politicians. This has implications for the government and corporate sectors, and for those dealing with Malaysia. Tunku Abdul Aziz Ibrahim is eminently well placed to comment on these developments. He is president of Transparency International Malaysia and a member of the Royal Commission that is addressing this issue.

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This forum and the following presentation of the Community Press Awards is a cooperation between the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAF) and the Philippine Press Institute (PPI). The theme for this year's press forum, "Media and the Elections", will give an overview of the elections, good governance as well as monitoring the process on the coverage of the current campaign for the May polls. The keynote speaker will be the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines, Hon. Hilario S. Davide, Jr. As in the past years, awards will be presented to journalists from the Philippines chosen by the Board of Judges in the following categories: environmental reporting, business and economic reporting, editorial page, photo-journalism and newspaper design.

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Following the success of the first seminar on Constitutional Courts in Asia, the second seminar of Asian Constitutional Court judges will be held in Bangkok. Speakers at this seminar include the President of the Constitutional Court of Thailand, Prof Dr Kramol Tongdhamachart, and the Former President of the Federal Constitutional Court Germany, Prof Dr Ernst Benda. The participants will also include Chief Justices, Constitutional Judges and Presidents of Constitutional Courts from Korea, Mongolia, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines and Cambodia. Topics under discussion will inter alia centre on the position of Constitutional judges, especially pertaining to their legal, social and financial implications, as well as on the practices and proceedings of electoral disputes, such as scrutiny of elections.

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Jointly organised by the Centre for Contemporary Islamic Studies (CCIS) and the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, this seminar aims to discuss the theoretical and the general issues related to Shari'ah and democracy, and the questions and issues peculiar to the Southeast Asian region with the participation of eminent scholars in Islamic Law and Theology.

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The 11th ASEAN-ISIS Colloquium on Human Rights (AICOHR) is organised by the Institute for Strategic and Development Studies (ISDS) in Manila and supported by Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, among others. The theme for this colloquium is Assessing the State of Human Rights in Southeast Asia. Speakers include Dr. Carolina Hernandez, Hon. Senator Francis Pangilinan and Atty Carlos Medina. The topics under discussion include an overview of the state of human rights in Southeast Asia, the issues and problems of developing a human rights scorecard for Southeast Asia and the state of human rights in all ASEAN countries.

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"Agenda Asia" was the theme of the annual conference of ANN (Asian News Network) held in Kuala Lumpur. Organised by ANN and the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, the conference features a keynote speech by the Malaysian Prime Minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, as well as a discussion on "The New Asia Regionalism" participated by Prof Harold Crouch (Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, The Australian National University), Ms Zainah Anwar (Executive Director of Sisters in Islam, Malaysia), Dr Prapat Thepchatree (Political Science Department, Thammasat University) and Ms Ng Phek Hoong, Member of Parliament, Singapore.

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Organised by the Department of Political Science, National University of Singapore (NUS), and supported by Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, the Singapore Forum on Politics 2003 is held at NUSS' Kent Ridge Guildhouse. The topic of this forum is "New Politics for a Renaissance City", which discusses the kind of 'new' politics that Singapore will need to realise its vision of a Renaissance City. Speakers at this fourm include Dr Suzaina Kadir, Associate Professor at the Department of Political Science, NUS, Mr Janadas Devan, Senior Writer with The Straits Times, and Dr Tan Chong Kee, founder of the former Sintercom.

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The 11th international conference of the East and Southeast Asia Network for Better Local Governments (ESEA) is jointly organised by Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung in Singapore and the Local Government Development Foundation (LOGODEF) in Manila. The theme of this conference will focus on Social Justice, and will be participated by representatives from Cambodia, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. Some country-specific issues that will be discussed at this conference include the Malaysian concept of social justice, the emerging concept of social justice in Indonesia, social justice in Thai society and the continuing growth of social justice in Cambodia.

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Organised by Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung in co-operation with Yomiuri Shimbun, one of Japan's most read dailies, this ANN business meeting aims to discuss the idea of ANN Supplements, the upcoming Young Leaders' Forum in 2004 and the future direction of ANN. The programme includes a presentation to the business community of Tokyo as well as an interview with Japanese Prime Minister, PM Junichiro Koizumi. ANN is a network of leading Asian dailies, and was launched in March 1999 with the help of Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung. ANN facilitates the daily exchange of news among the dailies through the Internet. The network now consists of 13 members, with a combined circulation of over 12 million and a readership of 50 million.

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The first Congress of the newly-established Asian Political & International Studies Association (APISA) will focus on the theme "Asia in the New Millennium: Development, Democracy and Security". Topics include trends, limitations and prospects of democratisation in Asia; political parties and elections in the Asian context; civil society, public sphere and NGOs in the region; current and future challenges to democratic governance in Asia, as well as the changing security structures in Asia after the Cold War, such as terrorism, environment and drug-trafficking.

The Organising Committee for the Congress is co-located at the Department of Political Science, National University of Singapore (NUS) and the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies (IDSS), Nanyang Technological University, and is co-chaired by Professor Lee Lai To of NUS and Professor Amitav Acharya of IDSS. A group of 10-12 political scientists and experts will be selected by Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung to contribute their insights on the topics.

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Supported by Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, this workshop organised by the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS) aims to examine the role of language policy in Southeast Asian nations pertaining to nation-building and development. Issues to be discussed include how the national language was chosen and pursued, how the national language policy affect national integration, social cohesion as well as national and ethnic identity formation. The problems and prospects of the language policy in Southeast Asia will also be reviewed.

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Sponsored by Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, this EU-ASEAN dialogue session is centred on the main theme of revitalising of ASEAN-EU relations to meet global security and economic challenges. Topics under discussion will include: Revitalising ASEAN-EU Partnership: A European Perspective, Economic Cooperation within ASEAN - Moving towards an ASEAN Economic Community - What lessons can be learnt from the EU experience, Political and Security Cooperation within ASEAN - Increased opportunity for EU's participation, The European Convention and an Enlarged EU - Challenges and Opportunities for ASEAN and The Commission's Strategy Paper on ASEAN.

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This gathering of leading Asian and German editors will be held in London after similar fora in Manila (May 1998), in Jakarta (February 1999) and in Phnom Penh (February 2000). The meeting aims to foster mutual understanding between Asian and German editors and to enhance their expertise in their respective regions. This series of editors' fora are held in different Asian capitals to examine issues unique to each Asian country and provide journalists with first-hand insights into the political and economic situation of the country.

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The topic of this workshop is based on a comparative study by Prof. Dr. Dieter C. Umbach (Potsdam University) on the development of the rule of law in Southeast Asia. Country presentations or commentaries by legal experts from seven Southeast Asian nations will take place to facilitate a better understanding of the development of the Rule of Law in the region. Some issues that will be discussed include the ultimate guardians of the constitution, civic rights and legal reform issues as well as the independence of the judiciary.

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An independent constitutional court has been proven to be one of the most effective instruments in safeguarding the basic rights of the citizens. Such courts have already been established in Korea, Mongolia and Thailand, and are in the early stages of development in Indonesia. The aim of this conference is to share experiences between the existing Constitutional Courts and to promote the idea of an independent guardian to the constitution. Also to be discussed are the avenues of further co-operation between Asian Constitutional Courts and other relevant organs.

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This seminar, in support of the initiatives of the Forum for East Asia Latin America Cooperation (FEALAC) and Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC), is sponsored by Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, and examines the opportunities for integrated economic co-operation between countries on both sides of the Pacific Rim. By promoting the exchange of technologies, trade and investment among the Small and Medium Enterprises of countries on both sides of the Pacific Rim, their economies can be better integrated. Also to be discussed in this seminar is the efficiency of a web-based portal to facilitate Cross-Pacific trade.

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The main theme for this year's ASEAN Roundtable is "Roadmap to an ASEAN Economic Community". This is a follow-up from the discussion held in Hanoi during November 2002 on the possibility of transforming ASEAN into an ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) by 2020. The ASEAN Roundtable 2003 will bring together academics and experts in the field as well as representatives from multilateral institutions to discuss issues pertinent to the proposed AEC. Some of these issues include fleshing out and defining the concept of the AEC, the rationale for economic integration, the possibility of converging existing economic integration programmes into AEC as well as the challenges and concerns of each member country in achieving the AEC.

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This annual meeting of ten press institutes in Asia under the Council of Asia-Pacific Press Institutes (CAPPI) will be organised by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung and the Korean Press Foundation. CAPPI is a regional networking body of media training and research institutions stretched to South Asia, Southeast Asia and South Pacific. The main objective is to promote free, independent and responsible press in the region by coordinating media training programmes. The founding members include Korean Press Foundation, Mongolian Press Institute, Philippine Press Institute, Pacific Island News Association, Press Institute of Bangladesh, Press Institute of India, Nepal Press Institute, Pakistan Press Foundation and Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung. The annual meeting in Seoul will elect a new set of officers for CAPPI.

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For the first time, the Konrad-Adenauer Center for Journalism is offering a degree programme, Master of Arts in Journalism. It is designed primarily for working journalists who seek excellence and advancement in their craft through the comprehensive academic graduate-level training. The coursework requires students to complete 12 subjects, covering basic and advanced skills in print and online journalism, foundational courses such as ethics and law and specialised reporting courses. Most of the courses are conducted using non-traditional teaching methods to allow working journalists to weave their classes around their daily routine. Thus there are intensive on-campus courses, as well as online courses. The degree may be finished at an accelerated pace of one-and-a-half years. Completion of the MA Journalism degree certifies that a graduate has: mastered the basic skills and has acquired advanced skills needed in the competent practice of print and online journalism; a comprehensive understanding of the principles, laws, ethics and theories of journalism; and has acquired subject matter expertise in a discipline of his/her choice. For further details, please visit http://cfj.ateneo.edu.

The Konrad-Adenauer Center for Journalism is dedicated to the promotion of excellence in journalism in Southeast Asia. Inaugurated in June 2000 with the help of Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, the Center aims to foster a free, viable and responsible press that will nurture the public discourse essential to an informed practice of citizenship and democracy. Its three main priorities are: to promote excellence and professionalism in journalism, to ensure continuing professional growth of Southeast Asian journalists through training and education and to foster unity among Southeast Asian nations.

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The annual Community Press Awards, the first and only awards programme of its kind in the Philippines, will be organised by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung and the Philippine Press Institute. Launched in 1996, it is aimed at raising the standards for responsible journalism in the countryside. It seeks to honour news organisations not only for excellence in reportage, editorial content and overall design but also for their roles in their respective communities as development catalysts and chroniclers of events. There are five award categories: environmental reporting, business and economic reporting, editorial page, photo-journalism and newspaper design. The press forum will review more than a decade of workshops run by the Philippine Press Institute. A tutorial revolving around writing for weeklies, editing weeklies and newsroom management will be presented for discussion and adoption. Furthermore, the forum will consider possible new award categories, for example: Best in Peace Reporting, Best in Good Governance Reportage and Pioneering Civic Journalism.

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Corruption in aid can arise from the side of the donor, the recipient or even a collusion between the two sides. Lack of transparency and accountability, especially with multilateral agencies, present particular problrms for corruption control. To contribute to the ongoing discussions on corruption and development aid, and how issues can be resolved without detriment to the continual needs of poorer countries, Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, together with the Singapore Institute of International Affairs (SIIA) and Transparency International (Malaysia), are organising a two-day conference on the topic "Corruption and Development Aid". The conference will take a comprehensive look at the issue by addressing the following themes over three sessions: Corruption among aid recipients - Linking Development Aid to National Reform, Corruption within donors - Improving Transparency and Accountability of Multilateral Aid Agencies and Response to the Corruption Challenge - How to Ensure and Measure Effectiveness of Development Aid.

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News exchange among Asian newspapers has brought about closer cooperation in news dissemination in the region, said Asia News Network (ANN) Chairman, Felix Soh. "There is a lot we have gained in this cooperation and our impressive record is closely watched by other regions as a model for their own regional partnership," added Soh, who is also the Deputy Editor of Singapore's The Straits Times. ANN is supported by Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung's regional programme which focuses on the promotion of a free, responsible and ethical press in the region. Its Southeast Asian Regional Representative, Mr Wolfgang Möllers, told the coordinators that their challenges were greater now with the looming full-scale war against Iraq. He called for a concerted effort by all members towards the growth of ethical and professional standards in the media industry in the region. ANN is a network of leading Asian dailies. It was launched in March 1999 with the help of Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung. ANN facilitates the daily exchange of news among the dailies through the Internet. The network now consists of 13 members, with a combined circulation of over 12 million and a readership of 50 million.

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This regional workshop on media and the right to development was conducted with the firm commitment to promote press freedom and the role of media in development. The seminar was organised by Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung in collaboration with the Press Institue of India. Journalists from Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka were present. The workshop is part of the KAS support for the Council of Asia-Pacific Press Institutes (CAPPI). The council is an umbrella group of the region's press organisations. CAPPI coordinates the training of the region's media practitioners. Ten press institutes from Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Korea, Mongolia, Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Fiji are members of the council. Topics were: Media Makes a Difference, with presentations by print, photo-, radio, TV and film journalists. Various issues on rights, such as justice, minority, dalit, food and shelter, grassroot democracy, gender equality and education were discussed. A visit to Tilonia, Rajasthan, to the Barefoot College, concluded the workshop.

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The 4th EU-ASEAN Think Tank Dialogue held at the European Parliament in Brussels brought a select group of think tank representatives from 8 ASEAN countries to Europe to exchange views with key actors in the European political academic and business sectors. The dialogue has been jointly organized by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, the European Institute for Asian Studies (Brussels) and ASEAN-ISEAS. This year’s dialogue covered the following topics: regional integration and regional solidarity; EU-ASEAN relations -- political and strategic dimension; WTO Doha Development Round -- EU and ASEAN perceptions; ASEAN and China -- competitors for foreign investment. Leaders and representatives of major Southeast Asian and European think tanks have analysed relations between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the European Union and issued a number of recommendations and conclusions to Foreign Ministers and senior officials from the two organisations.

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During the 2nd ICAPP meeting, 240 party leaders, executives and members from 50 parties all over Asia gathered in Bangkok for a lively and fruitful discussion on the role of political parties in enhancing democratic government, promoting economic development, addressing regional security issues and ensuring social justice. As stated in the Bangkok Declaration 2002, the Conference also looked at defining mechanisms and processes to forge closer co-operation among political parties in Asia.

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The ASEAN Roundtable 2002 dealt with the role of entrepreneurship and SMEs in re-examing Southeast Asia’s Economic Development model and developing entrepreneurship and SMEs in the region’s transitional economies. It also looked at the questions of financing entrepreneurs and SMEs as well as at the role of multi-lateral institutions and governments in the development of SMEs in the region. The key recommendations on SME policies and an executive summary of the Roundtable proceedings was subsequently sent to ASEAN governments, academic, the private sector and the media. A comprehensive publication will be issued in 2003 and will be available from ISEAS.

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This international conference was organised by the Asia News Network (ANN) and the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung. ANN is a network of leading Asian dailies. It was launched in March 1999 with the help of Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung. ANN facilitates the daily exchange of news among the dailies through the Internet. KAS, in its role as moderator and coordinator, supports ANN in providing funding for international conferences on media-related topics. Highlights of the conference were an appointment with the Chief Executive of Hong Kong, Tung Chee Hwa, a presentation of the new ANN web portal and the ANN Board Meeting. Three newspapers from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka joined ANN to complete the South Asia leg of ANN. With the admission of these three new members, the network now consists of 14 members, with a combined circulation of over 12 million and a readership of 50 million. The new web portal www.asianews.net, will pool information resources of all the ANN members and publish news on politics, economics and society in Asia.

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The region is confronted with migration and resulting conflicts at many fronts e.g. Migration and the spread of HIV AIDS; forced migration as well as irregular migration. Consequently, international labor flow, trans-national labor networks and policies on international migration were dealt with in detail. The conference also looked at the history of migration in Southeast Asia in the last half century especially the Chinese migration and adaption. The proceedings of this international conference will be published by ISEAS as a book volume in 2003.

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The information technology revolution has changed the world. Governments can no longer control mass media in a way it was done years before. In China, for example, there are about 200,000 Internet cafes where people have access to the Internet. What is the exact influence of the Internet on democracy? This workshop of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung in collaboration with the Asian Media Information and Communication Centre (AMIC) gathered experts on media, law and information technology from nine Asian countries. They shared their insights on the topic "Internet and Democracy in Asia" and compared the different country approaches. A related publication which will be launched in May 2003.

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This annual meeting of nine press institutes in Asia under the Council of Asia-Pacific Press Institutes (CAPPI) came up with a review of the state of the community press in Asia. The directors agreed on a book on community journalism which will be published at the end of the year. Dr. Violet Valdez, the head of the Konrad-Adenauer Center for Journalism, presented the programme of the school and discussed with the participants the idea of launching a degree programme, Master of Arts in Journalism. With the inclusion of the Soetomo Press Institute from Indonesia, CAPPI now has ten members from all over Asia and the Pacific. The new CAPPI Chairman is Nina Ratulele, head of the Pacific Island News Association (PINA).

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This regional workshop on community newspapers was conducted with the firm commitment to promote press freedom at a time when most of the countries in the region are beset with internal conflicts, threats of terrorism and violence. The seminar was organised by Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung in collaboration with the Nepal Press Institute. Journalists from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka were present. The workshop is part of the KAS support for the Council of Asia-Pacific Press Institutes (CAPPI). The council is an umbrella group of the region's press organisations. CAPPI coordinates the training of the region's media practitioners. Nine press institutes from Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Korea, Mongolia, Cambodia, the Philippines and Fiji are members of the council.

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The annual Community Press Awards, the first and only awards programme of its kind in the Philippines, is organised by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung and the Philippine Press Institute. Launched in 1996, it is aimed at raising the standards for responsible journalism in the countryside. It seeks to honour news organisations not only for excellence in reportage, editorial content and overall design but also for the roles in their respective communities as development catalysts and chroniclers of events. There are five award categories: environmental reporting, business and economic reporting, editorial page, photo-journalism and newspaper design. The winners are Negros' Daily Bulletin, the Mindanao Times, the Gold Star Daily, the Visayang Daily Star and the Cebu Daily News.

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An interesting political phenomenon that is sweeping across Asia is the implementation of government decentralization schemes in various stages of implementation. The conference of the East & Southeast Asia Network for Better Local Government is a clear recognition of the emerging importance of decentralization in the political scene in Asian countries although many obstacles still exist to the concept of decentralization. The accompanying publication is a noteworthy addition and contribution to the scanty literature on the topic of decentralization in Southeast Asia. It can be obtained from the Local Government of Development Foundation (LOGODEF) in Manila.

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ANN is a network of 12 leading Asian dailies. It was launched in March 1999 with the help of Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung. ANN facilitates the daily exchange of news among the dailies through the Internet. KAS, in its role as moderator and coordinator, supports ANN in providing funding for international conferences on media-related topics. The highlights of the meeting were an appointment with Singapore's Prime Minister, Mr. Goh Chok Tong, and a forum with the Singapore Press Club. There were over 200 guests present in the meeting. At the ANN Board Meeting, Felix Soh, Deputy Editor of The Straits Times, Singapore, was appointed as the new ANN Chairman.

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At its 9th year, the ASEAN-ISIS Colloquium on Human Rights (AICOHR) focused on education, health and welfare dimension as well as poverty alleviation. Additionally, the issue of a regional human rights mechanism for Asean was addressed. The AICOHR is part of ASEAN-ISIS continuing effort to advance human rights promotion by using appropriate and less controversial approaches to this sensitive issue.

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12-13 November 2001, Singapore

This conference examined the role of the civil society in the region. Civil society has of course existed in various parts of Southeast Asia in different forms and at different times. However, a strong democratising type of civil society first made its appearance in this region in Thailand in the 1970s and Philippines in the 1980s. It also began to evolve in a few other countries in Southeast Asia in the late 1980s and early 1990s as robust economic growth in the ASEAN states led to the creation of a middle class which became increasingly politicised and aware of their rights. Nevertheless, since the Asian economic crisis in 1997 a renewed vigour of civil society is seen in Southeast Asia, most notably in Malaysia and Indonesia. Themes for this conference included: state versus civil society, religion, ethnicity, gender, poverty and inequality, and environment. This meeting was sponsored by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung and organised by the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.

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The Young Parliamentarians Meeting is designed to enable young parliamentarians from Asia and Europe to closely interact with their counterparts from the other region. It aims to provide them with a platform to form personal networks between Asia and Europe at a relatively early stage of their career. It tries to foster people-to-people exchanges and targets the promotion of better understanding between parliamentarians who might otherwise only get to know each other through formal channels. The third annual meeting in Denpasar was co-organised by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung and Asia-Europe Foundation.

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This year's ASEAN Roundtable, a joint effort of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung and the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, focused on financing sustained economic development in Southeast Asia. After the financial crisis of 1997-98, there is a need to re-evaluate the Southeast Asian countries' methods in funding their on-going economic recovery process and in financing their more long-term economic development. This would entail an assessment of past financing methods as well an identification of alternatives and new methods in a bid to widen the spectrum of financial instruments and platforms available in the region. Southeast Asia's past reliance on commercial bank lending has not been ideal. Therefore, a deepening of the financial industry in the region is necessary, if the economic recovery process is to be completed in the near term and sustained economic development is to be adequately funded in the long term. However, liberalisation of the financial industry has to be done with some care and planning in an attempt to prevent major distortions.

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The third Asia-Europe Dialogue in Bangkok was participated in by representatives from European and Southeast Asian think tanks. Themes for the dialogue included political and economic developments in Europe and Asia, inter-regional relationship, and assessment of the progress of cooperation between the two regions. This conference was co-organised by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung and the Institute of Strategic and International Studies, Thailand.

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This year's conference of the East and Southeast Network for Better Local Governments focused on e-commerce and e-governance. The meeting brought together local government executives to review local governance in the context of information technology. In particular, the participants discussed the extent to which certain provinces and cities in Southeast Asia have utilized technological advances in the pursuit of more efficient management reform, better delivery of services, greater business opportunities and tighter links with the community. The conference was sponsored and organised by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung in cooperation with the Local Government Development Foundation (LOGODEF).

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This conference on good governance was organised in cooperation with the Singapore Institute of International Affairs. It sought to share ideas and experiences in fighting corruption. It emphasized a skills-building component for effective and sustainable anti-corruption efforts. Participated in by some fifty regional officials of anti-corruption agencies, representatives from watchdog organizations, and oversight bodies from the region, the conference assisted regional agencies to build or strengthen their institutional capacity to prevent, detect, and fight corruption. It identified strategies, policies and lessons from the different countries in the region. Finally, it provided the participants field trips to Singapore's Subordinate Courts and Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau.

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The Human Rights Colloquium is an annual gathering of advocates, scholars, and government officials in their private capacities from various countries of Southeast Asia. Through a dialogue, the Colloquium aims to promote human rights as an agenda for ASEAN and to establish a regional human rights mechanism in the region. At its eighth year, the Colloquium focused on Women and Human Rights. Women are either marginalized or oppressed in economic, political, and social arenas. In this meeting, the state and prospects of women's rights were discussed. Specific topics included a review of women's rights in the past two decades in the region, women's civil and economic rights, religion and women's rights, illegal migration and trafficking in women, and measures to promote women's rights in the ASEAN Agenda. This year's conference was sponsored by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) and organized by the Institute for Strategic and Development Studies (ISDS).

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This conference explored the areas in which Cambodia could more actively participate in regional activities and contribute positively to ASEAN. The first part of the conference situated Cambodia in the context of changing economic, social and political environment of Southeast Asia. Discussed were challenges posed by globalization to Southeast Asia, political stability, and emerging social and political culture in the region. The second part dealt more specifically on how Cambodia could maximize the opportunities offered by membership to ASEAN and other international organizations, the roles the country could play in the region, and its prospects amidst changes. The conference was successfully participated in by the highest policy-makers of the Government of Cambodia as well as experts from Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and Germany. The conference was a joint project of the Office of the Council of Ministers and the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung.

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This workshop analyzed what changes in media haven taken place during the last three years. It concentrated on all of the ten ASEAN member countries. The conference gathered researchers and media practitioners from allover the region. Some of the topics: The Internet and the ASEAN region, Media in Cambodia and Vietnam, Print Media and the Internet in Post-Suharto Indonesia, Impact of Economic Transition on the Media in Laos, Media and Malaysia´s Reformasi Movement, Foreign Media in Malaysia, Post-Marcos Media in the Philippines: Freedom Won and Whither the Transition, State-Media Dynamics in Singapore. The workshop was organized by the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (coordinator: Dr. Russell Heng) and sponsored by Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung. As an outcome of this workshop a book on "ASEAN-Media in Transition" will be published in the first half of 2001.

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The ASEAN Roundtable is an annual event organized by the Institute for Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS) in Singapore. This year's conference focused on the New Development Paradigms in Southeast Asia: The Challenge of Information Technology. In particular, the conference dealt on the following topics: the role of information technology in Southeast Asian development; IT sectors in Southeast Asia, the social and political impacts of information and communications technology; IT infrastructure, human capital endowments and innovations in the region; and a review of the recent development and challenges of e-commerce. It also looked into the role of IT in selected countries of the Southeast Asia, East Asia and India. This conference, supported by Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS), was participated in by forty representatives from all ASEAN countries, Hong Kong, Taiwan, India, the U.S. and Germany.

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The second Asia-Europe dialoguel continued the work of the first held last year in Manila. Representatives from European and Asian think tanks discussed various themes in the inter-regional relationship and assess the progress of cooperation programmes between the two regions. The conference was co-organised with the KAS Office in Brussels and the European Institute for Asian Studies.

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This regional conference discussed the developments and merits of political parties in Asia. Specifically, the conference's aim was to assess the contribution political parties have made in the development of democracy throughout Asia.

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This conference was organised in cooperation with the Yuchengco Institute for East Asia. Papers pesented were on corruption mechanisms that various Asian countries had put in place to ensure good governance. The conference took a comparative analysis approach to the governance issue. It documented the institutionalisation and integration of civil society organisations, private sector and academic institution's participation in combatting corruption and evaluated the issues and concerns that hindered or may have served as possible bottlenecks in in the implementation of these anti-corruption strategies.

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This dialogue was a gathering of Young Parliamentarians (under 40 years of age) from several ASEAN member-countries' parliaments, the European Parliament and the German Bundestag. The main topic of discussion were the budgetary concerns. The event served as a forum through which the respective counterparts shared information on how their roles varied from country to country. The organising partner was the National Assembly of Vietnam.

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This conference was organised in cooperation with the Singapore Institute of International Affairs. Discussed were the latest developments in international norms in relation to specific global events. Case studies were presented on how the idea of sovereignty has changed in a global society where an international civil society keeps a close eye on how governments treat their citizens.

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Organised by the Local Government Development Foundation and the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, the conference reviewed the work of the network and looked for new ways in which the various local government agencies can cooperate in the future.

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The Seventh ASEAN-ISIS Colloquium on Human Rights was co-sponsored by KAS. Participants came from all over the region. There was a roundtable discussion on the promotion of an official ASEAN Human Rights Mechanism, the speakers updated participants on the progress that has been made towards this goal. The conference introduced for the first time the concept of 'human security' which included the impact of globalisation on development goals.

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The relationship between ASEAN and the European Union needs to be redefined with the European Monetary Union and the ASEAN Free Trade Area. This meeting of representatives from different strategic institutes in Southeast Asia and Europe, however, concentrated on more than economic issues. Security concerns, development strategies and regionalism were among the topics of this meeting in Manila. Participants agreed to establish and institutionalized on a more regular basis the exchange of ideas among leading opinion makers in Asia and Europe.

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This conference was organised by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Jakarta. Participants discussed different concepts of good governance and how these relate to democratization in the region. The second part of the conference focused on the specific costs of corruption to economic and social development.

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This conference was held in Bangkok, Thailand. It investigated the ways and means in which different constitutions in Southeast Asia and Europe protect civil liberties. It was organised with the Constitutional Court of the Royal Kingdom of Thailand, the Keynote Address was delivered by H.E. Dr. Surin Pitsuwan, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Thailand.

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This "Roundtable" in Singapore is an annual meeting of policy makers from all over Southeast Asia. This year's roundtable was organized by the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore, and was sponsored by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung. The participants analysed recent developments and current trends within Southeast Asia, discussed relations with their neighbours and formulated position papers for their respective governments.

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Papers were presented on how the different ASEAN members have responded to the challenges of the currency crisis. Policy makers and academics were given a chance to discuss the relative merits of the different paths chosen.

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13-15 February 1999, Manila, Philippines

Papers from several ASEAN countries dealt with how the economic crisis has affected the treatment of human rights. The conference´s main aim was to promote an ASEAN human rights mechanism. This ASEAN Human Rights Colloquium, which was held in Manila, was the sixth meeting in an ongoing series of conferences sponsored by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung.

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