The East-West Center community expresses its sympathy and deep concern over the loss of life and on-going crisis in Japan resulting from the massive earthquake and tsunami. Our hearts go out to the family members of those who lost their lives and to the thousands who are still trying to locate family and friends, who lost property, or who have had to leave their homes. We salute those courageous workers and members of the military and other public services who are doing their utmost to contain the damage at the nuclear reactors and providing relief assistance to hundreds of thousands of Japanese. Please consider giving generously to the organizations involved in relief activities.

YOKOHAMA, JAPAN (Nov. 12, 2010) – Speaking yesterday at the 2010 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in Yokohama, Japan, U.S. Senate Appropriation Committee Chairman Daniel K. Inouye (D-Hawai‘i) said the meeting comes at a time when “the interdependence among the world’s economies have reached a level never seen before.”

(Note: This commentary originally appeared in The Honolulu Advertiser on March 8, 2009.)

By Shabbir Cheema

EWC Senior Fellow

The Obama administration has placed its relationship with Pakistan at the top of its foreign policy agenda, and for good reason.

Put simply, a solid relationship with Pakistan is key to a stable Afghanistan and, in turn, national and global security.

Many of the safe havens of al-Qaida, surely the No. 1 "enemy" in the war on terror, are in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan next to Afghanistan. This is where as many as 50,000 U.S. troops will be stationed in the near future.

Trio of independent workshops will focus on designing fertility analysis,
effective responses to HIV and communicating with policymakers

HONOLULU (Nov. 4, 2010) – Applications are being accepted through December 31 for the East-West Center’s 2011 Summer Seminar on Population. Held annually since 1970, the Summer Seminar provides a forum for learning and discussion on a wide range of population and health issues. Former participants work in government, nongovernmental (NGO), and academic institutions throughout the Asia-Pacific region and around the world.

Click here for full information on the Summer Seminar workshops, instructions for applicants, and application forms from the Summer Seminar website.

HONOLULU (Nov. 12, 2010) – The application deadline for the East-West Center's 2011-12 Asia Pacific Leadership Program (APLP) – considered the premier leadership education program in the Asia Pacific region – is Dec 1, 2010.

Entering its eleventh year, the APLP is a graduate certificate program combining the development of regional expertise with the enhancement of individual leadership capacity. Based at the Center in Honolulu, Hawaii, the program has created a network of dynamic leaders in 52 countries. All participants receive a fee-waiver fellowship valued at approximately $15,000.

HONOLULU (Dec. 18) – The application deadline for the East-West Center's 2010-11 Asia Pacific Leadership Program (APLP) – considered the premier leadership education program in the Asia Pacific region – is Jan. 31, 2010.

Entering its tenth year, the APLP is a graduate certificate program combining the development of regional expertise with the enhancement of individual leadership capacity. Based at the Center in Honolulu, Hawaii, the program has created a network of dynamic leaders in 48 countries. All participants receive a fee-waiver valued at approximately $15,000.

Two-week professional workshop in Indonesia during May will focus on “Internal Conflicts in the Asia Pacific Region”

HONOLULU (Nov. 19) – Applications are being accepted through Jan. 1 for the third annual Summer Institute in International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and Human Rights. Organized by the Asian International Justice Initiative – a collaboration between the East-West Center and the University of California-Berkeley War Crimes Studies Center

Trio of independent workshops will focus on population aging, health-care financing and communicating with policymakers

HONOLULU (Dec. 1) – Applications are being accepted through December 31 for the East-West Center’s 2010 Summer Seminar on Population. Held annually since 1970, the Summer Seminar provides a forum for learning and discussion on a wide range of population and health issues. Former participants work in government, nongovernmental (NGO), and academic institutions throughout the Asia-Pacific region and around the world.

Full information on the Summer Seminar workshops, instructions for applicants, and application forms can be obtained from the Summer Seminar website at http://www.eastwestcenter.org/summerseminar .

HONOLULU (Nov. 14) – President Barack Obama’s selection of Honolulu as the site for the annual APEC Leaders Meeting in November 2011 means that Honolulu will both open the U.S. year of hosting APEC with an agenda-setting conference, as well as close the year with the huge Ministerial and Leaders meetings.

President Obama announced Hawai‘i’s winning bid today at this year’s APEC Leaders Meeting, currently being held in Singapore. Honolulu had already been selected to host the first event, an academic and government officials’ conference and an informal senior officials meeting to be held at the East-West Center in December 2010. Several other smaller ministerial and senior official meetings will be held in other U.S. cities.

HONOLULU (August 6) – East-West Center Senior Fellow Dr. Fereidun Fesharaki has been appointed to the Board of Directors of the Dubai Mercantile Exchange Limited (DME). The DME is the premier international energy futures and commodities exchange in the Middle East, providing a financially secure, well-regulated transparent trading environment.

HONOLULU (June 10) – The East-West Center has received a two-year grant of $94,747 from the Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership to support the Japan-United States Journalist Exchange .

This 12-day exchange program, co-sponsored by the East-West Center and Nihon Shinbun Kyokai (NSK), sends six to seven Japanese journalists to the United States and an equal number of U.S. journalists to Japan to broaden the journalists’ knowledge of the relationship and challenges faced between the two countries.

HONOLULU (April 16) -- This year’s annual, student-organized Indonesian Conference and Cultural Event (ICCE 2009) will be held on Friday April 24, from 2 - 9 p.m. at the East-West Center’s Hawaii Imin International Conference Center. Admission to the conference and cultural celebration is free and open to the public.

The topic for this year is ‘A Decade of Reform 1998-2009’; looking at changes after the end of the Soeharto regime in 1998. The underlying force guiding these changes has been a spirit of reformation promising democracy, equity and justice among Indonesia’s people. However, after a decade of reform, Indonesia’s ability to provide equal democratic rights and access to every citizen has still been questioned.

HONOLULU (Feb. 6) – The application deadline for the East-West Center's new Norway-Pacific Islands Scholarship Program (NPISP)— created for students from the Solomon Islands or Vanuatu to pursue a master’s degree in anthropology, Pacific islands studies, or political science at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa— is March 15, 2009. Study will begin in August 2009.  Scholarship provisions include tuition, residence hall fees, book allowance, living stipend, health insurance, and round-trip airfare. 

Application forms and detailed program information are available at: http:// EastWestCenter.org/studentprograms .