Day 1 speakers and moderator
Lubna Baqi
Lubna Baqi is the Deputy Regional Director of the UNFPA Asia Pacific Regional Office (APRO), based in Bangkok. During her 26 years with UNFPA she has served as the Associate Director, UN Development Operations Coordination Office in New York (2007-2010), UNFPA Representative in Sri Lanka and Country Director in the Maldives (2003-2007). acting UNFPA Representative and Deputy Representative in Egypt (2001-2003). Before that, Baqi worked at UNFPA headquarters, initially in the Asia Pacific Division (1990-1996) and subsequently in the Office of the Executive Director (1996-2000).
Eduardo Klien
Eduardo Klien is the Regional Director of HelpAge International East Asia/Pacific, overseeing the work of HelpAge regionally in collaboration with HelpAge network partners throughout ASEAN and beyond. This work includes policy advocacy, knowledge and research development, community-based programmes and supporting the voice of older people towards ensuring that older people can lead dignified, active, healthy and secure lives. An economist by training and former university lecturer and researcher, he has been moving the regional agenda towards exploring the social and economic effects of population ageing.
Arun Maira
Arun Maira is a thought leader and writer on the subjects of social and economic development, and transformational change and leadership. He is a frequent speaker at international forums on the future of India. His recent books include Transforming Capitalism: Improving the World for Everyone; Remaking India: One Country, One Destiny; and Redesigning the Airplane While Flying: Reforming Institutions. Arun Maira is Chancellor of the Central University of Himachal Pradesh, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of HelpAge International, and Chairman of the Foundation for MSME Clusters.
Philip O’Keefe
Philip O’Keefe is Lead Economist in the Social Protection and Labor Global Practice at the World Bank, working in East Asia and Pacific region. Previously, he was Lead Economist for Human Development for EAP region and Sector Coordinator for HD for China and Mongolia. He is the lead author of the World Bank’s 2016 EAP regional flagship report on Aging, and has published regularly on social security and labor market issues in East and South Asia and transition economies.
Donghyun Park
Donghyun Park is Principal Economist at the Economics Research and Regional Cooperation Department (ERCD) of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), which he joined in April 2007. His main research fields are international finance, international trade, and development economics. His research revolves around policy-oriented topics relevant for Asia’s long-term development, including demographic change, middle-income trap, and financial sector development. Park plays a leading role in the production of Asian Development Outlook, ADB’s flagship annual publication.
Jomo Kwame Sundaram
Jomo Kwame Sundaram holds the Tun Hussein Onn Chair in International Studies at the Institute of Strategic and International Studies, Malaysia, and is Visiting Senior Fellow at Khazanah Research Institute and Visiting Fellow at the Initiative for Policy Dialogue, Columbia University. He was the UN Assistant Secretary General for Economic Development (2005-12), Research Coordinator for the G24 Intergovernmental Group on International Monetary Affairs and Development during 2006-12, and Assistant Director General for Economic and Social Development, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations (2012-15).
Keizo Takemi
Hon. Professor Takemi is a member of the House of Councillors in Japan, and former Senior Vice-Minister of Health, Labour, and Welfare. He is currently AFPPD's Chairperson and Co-chair of the Standing Committee on Active Ageing. In April 2016, he co-hosted the Global Conference of Parliamentarians on Population and Development (GCPPD), spearheading the adoption of recommendations contributing to the G7 Ise-Shima Leaders’ Declaration and the Ise-Shima Vision for Global Health. He is also a current Member of the UN High-Level Task Force for the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD).
Mary Ann Tsao
Mary Ann Tsao is the Chairwoman and Founding Director of the Tsao Foundation, a Singapore-based, regionally-oriented non-profit dedicated to aged care and ageing issues. As a pediatrician with a public health background, she specialises in community and primary care planning and social medicine. Tsao provides technical advisor to numerous multilateral agencies and is currently a HelpAge Ambassador. She is also a Director for FBNA - Family Business Network Asia – a nonprofit association of family businesses committed to business practices that serve as a model of sustainability.
Side events
Bussarawan Puk Teerawichitchainan
Bussarawan Puk Teerawichitchainan is Associate Professor of Sociology and Associate Dean (Research & Program Development) at the School of Social Sciences, Singapore Management University. Her research interests include social demography, the life course and aging, population health, inequality, and sociology of family. She conducts research on these topics in the context of Southeast Asia, particularly in Vietnam, Thailand, and Myanmar. She is currently a chairperson of the Asian Population Association’s Scientific Group on Population Aging and the Family in Asian Context.
Asghar Zaidi
Asghar Zaidi is Professor in International Social Policy at University of Southampton (UK), researching active and healthy ageing, and the well-being of older people and persons with disabilities. Since 2012, he has led the research effort in the Active Ageing Index Project of the UNECE/EC. He developed the Global AgeWatch Index with HelpAge International. He has served as an economic adviser for the UK’s Department for Work and Pensions and an expert advisor to WHO’s Centre for Health Development working on indicators for Age-friendly Cities.
Liu Zengrui
Liu Zengrui currently works as the Director of the Rights and Interests Protection Department of the China National Committee on Ageing (CNCA). He has worked as the Deputy Director and section chief of the Publicity Department of CNCA. His research is mainly focusing on rights protection of older people, preferential treatment to the elderly, social management of senior citizens and the guardianship system of the elderly. He has participated in many research studies including: “The Elderly Mental Health Survey”, and “The work of elderly rights protection and preferential treatment”.