The 16th International Conference on "The future of Asia" organized by Nikkei Inc., was held from 20 to 21 May 2010 at Imperial Hotel in Tokyo. Mr. Hidetoshi Nishimura, Executive Director of ERIA and Prof. Fukunari Kimura, Chief Economist of ERIA attended the conference.

The theme for this year's conference was "Toward an Open Economic Partnership: A New Foundation for Growth". Each year this conference brings together political leaders, including heads of governments, and senior business executives from Asia to discuss outlooks of the region.

Although the global economy has emerged from the recession that followed the Lehman shock of 2008, a stable growth path has not been secured. The economies of developed nations including Japan have been sluggish. Against this backdrop, it is becoming increasingly important for Asia, the economic growth center of the world, to open its doors to extra-regional countries in order to contribute to the sustainable economic growth of the world economy.