(Bangkok/November 20, 2003) In celebration of its tenth foundation anniversary, the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats, in cooperation with the Friedrich Naumann Foundation and the Democrat Party of Thailand,  will host  an international conference, ‘Current Political Challenges for Economic Growth in Asia’  on December 9 to 12, 2003 at the Marriot Resort Hotel in Bangkok, Thailand.

As an umbrella of liberal and democratic political organizations in Asia, CALD was inaugurated in Bangkok in 1993, with the support of Thailand’s Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai and Korea’s Kim Dae Jung. Then Thai Foreign Minister Dr. Surin Pitsuwan became the founding CALD President and has given his strong support from the early years of CALD until now. Messrs. Leekpai and Pitsuan will address the foundation anniversary conference together with Thai Deputy Prime Minister H.E. Dr. Bhokin Bhalakula and Leader of the Democrat Party of Thailand Banyat Bantadtan, MP. Other speakers include (from the Philippines) Senate President Franklin Drilon, Senator Aquilino Pimentel, Jr. and former Trade Secretary Jose Concepcion, Jr.; former Indonesian Attorney General Marzuki Darusman; former Sri Lankan Defense Secretary Austin Fernando; academicians Prof. Andrew Tan of Singapore and Prof. Yash Ghai of Hong Kong; Mr. Sundeep Waslekar, President of the Strategic Foresight Group of India and Cambodian oppositionist Sam Rainsy. Speakers outside the region include Count Otto Graf Lambsdorff who was a former Trade Minister of Germany and currently Chairman of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation; Lord John Alderdice, Liberal International Deputy President and Speaker of the Parliament of Northern Ireland; European parliamentarian Jules Maaten; Prof. Asbjorn Eide of University of Oslo, Norway; and V.L. Elliot, co-author of Breaking the Conflict Trap: Civil War and Development Policy.

The five main topics to be discussed are (1) Regional Economic Cooperation and Global Free Trade (WTO: Where to go from Cancun?/ Economic Cooperation in ASEAN/ Economic and Political Cooperation: Challenges for Asia/ and EU and Asia: Is there a common Future?); (2) Security and Civil Liberties: Responding to the Terrorist Threat (The Threat of Terrorism in Southeast Asia: Evaluating the Threat and Responses/ South Asia and the Threat of Terrorism/ Responding to the Threat of Terrorism); (3) Autonomy and Minority Rights: Responding to the Separatist Threat (Ethnicity and Autonomy/ International Trends in Minority Rights/ and Responding to the Threat of Separatism); (4) Breaking Out of the Conflict Trap: Economic Growth and Regional Cooperation (Civil Conflict and Development Policy/ and  Liberalism and Conflict Resolution); and, (5) Visions and Prospects for Democracy in Asia (Building an Asian Democratic Tradition/ and Political Challenges for Democracy in Asia: the Vision).

A commemorative brochure entitled CALD: A Decade of Liberal Democracy in Asia will also be launched during a dinner hosted by incumbent CALD Chair, M.R. Sukhumbhand Paribatra, MP at the Suan Pakkad Palace.