In August 1997, after financial crisis had broken out in Thailand, Japanese officials proposed the establishment of an Asian Monetary Fund (AMF). The proposal encountered a number of obstacles, the most formidable of which was opposition by the United States and the IMF. Consequently, Japanese officials aborted the initiative. However, the notion of an AMF resurfaced in a variety of forms thereafter,. Most recently, a network of bilateral currency swap arrangements has begun to emerge among the ASEAN + 3 nations under the auspices of the May 2000 Chiang Mai Initiative. This talk will examine the political dynamics surrounding the Japanese Government's initial proposal for the creation of an AMF in 1997, and the arrangements that have emerged in its place. In doing so, the talk will attempt to draw out the significance of the AMF idea, its institutional evolution for the U.S.-Japan bilateral relationship, and for U.S. and Japanese roles in multilateral financial institutions today.

Mr. Bhatnagar will focus on the considerations that guide and motivate large companies to seek markets in developing economies and the risks that they face in being early pioneers. He will speak from his experiences in developing projects and working in Asian economies, with special reference to Enron's experience in India in developing and financing the Dabhol Power Project, the largest independent power plant and LNG terminal in India.

The Dabhol Project is a $3 billion investment in an LNG-fired power plant and port infrastructure in India and typifies the challenges large investments face in developing economies such as India. Projects such as Dabhol can help kickstart infrastructure investments in developing economies; investments that these countries sorely need and the talk will focus on the the hurdles the project has faced over the years and overcome and the efforts of a country to balance the vested interests in the economy with the need for new investment.

Sanjay Bhatnagar is currently working on developing and investing in several energy and telecommunication projects in India and the U.S. as a free agent based out of New York. Until recently, Mr. Bhatnagar was the CEO of Enron Broadband Services in the Middle East and Asia in Singapore responsible for developing Enron's telecommunication business in the region. Mr. Bhatnagar received his MBA from Harvard University in 1993, a Master's in Engineering from Stanford University in 1989 and a Bachelor's in Mechanical Engineering with distinction from the Indian Institute of Technology in 1983.

Bill Gates recently said "if the 1980s were about quality and the 1990s were about reengineering, then the 2000s will be about velocity. When the increase in velocity of business is great enough, the very nature of business changes." These three factors--quality, reengineering, and velocity-are rapidly changing the structure of foreign trade. They directly affect relationships such as the flow of imports, exports and foreign direct investment. Such complex networks of global and local interactions generate new ways of doing business by selectively collapsing time and space relationships. This rapidly evolving complex system is making it very difficult for policymakers to analyze public policy trade related issues or to evaluate the possible impact of their decisions. New ways to visualize, develop, implement and evaluate California State foreign trade policy are needed. Dr. Koehler's presentation will lay out some of the elements that might be included in such an approach to state trade policy making, and identify various options for California State government. Dr. Gus Koehler is Senior Policy Analyst with the California Research Bureau, where he conducts policy research for the State Legislature and the Governor's office. His current research responsibilities include identifying and evaluating state economic development issues and strategies for addressing them. The author of California Trade Policy (1999), Dr. Koehler serves as adjunct faculty of Public Administration at the University of Southern California.