Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)

I attended the Exchange Club luncheon yesterday to hear Lieutenant Governor Brian Schatz speak about APEC and its potential impact on Hawaii. Mr. Schatz's first statement put this event in perspective for the audience in describing it as "by an order of magnitude the most important meeting in Hawai'i's history."

The direct economic impacts are obvious:
15,000 to 20,000 participants
120,000-plus hotel room nights
$120 million in direct spending
Meeting space filled at more than 16 hotels and the Hawai‘i Convention Center
Neighbor island travel expected
Hawaii’s chance to shine as a destination for business and high-level meetings
Hawaii’s opportunity to build more relationships in Asia and the Pacific

It is crucial, according to Mr. Schatz that we put our best foot forward, which is our natural beauty as a destination resort area, but there are also three primary opportunities to influence Hawai'i future in the long-term:

1) We need to prove to the world and the U.S. business sectors that Hawaii is a place to do business; that it is not just a place for sun, sand, surf, and mai tais. Asia has a more serious impression of Hawai'i as a conferenc and business venue because it is half-way to the Mainland U.S. but it is crucial for our tourist industry to change thr prevailing perception in the U.S. that Hawai'i is only a vacation destination.

2) As stated by Dept. of Energy Secretary Steven Chu, Hawai'i is an ideal location for alternative energy experimentation. We can't come close to matching China for scale (and who can?) but we can work to out-innovate them. One major driving force is the Pacific Fleet which views alternative fuels as a priority national security issue— we shouldn't be powering our fleets and airplanes with fuel that we purchase from our enemies and potential belligerents. The military has the money and the resources to do the experimentation on a larger scale than any state government ever could and Hawaii provides an ideal location to do that due to its natural resources: wind, wave, solar, geothermal, ocean-thermal, bio-fuels.

3) Finally, Mr. Schatz spoke about our deep connection to Japan, brought to light most acutely after the tsunami/earthquake/nuclear disaster of 3/11/11. One would think that Hawai'i would always have an easy, organic relationship due our cultural, historical, economic ties but it is actually a result of decades of hard work, and APEC will enable us to build on that even more.

The role of micro-lending is not very obvious in this very macro event about macro economic policy, but one connection I made from the meeting is with Ho'ola Greevey who is good friends with State Senator Maile Shimabukuro who represents the west side, the location of what I imagine will be the recipients of many of our services. We'll see what develops from that.