[Virtual] Opportunity for the Partnership for Global Infrastructure in the Indo-Pacific: Perspectives from the U.S. Business Community

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The American Association of the Indo-Pacific (AAIP), in close collaboration with AmCham Singapore, invites the business community to the release of an AAIP report that focuses on bringing in the U.S. private sector to support the development of the Partnership for Global Infrastructure (PGI) in the Indo-Pacific region.

The PGI is a U.S.-led G7 effort to narrow the infrastructure gap in low- and middle-income countries through a new high-standard, values-driven, and re-imagined development finance model that efficiently mobilizes, coordinates, and connects private sector capital to impactful projects. PGI projects will focus on four key sectors: health & health security, climate, digital technology, and gender equality & equity.

The recent announcement that Singapore has formally joined the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) discussions further underscores the importance of Singapore's role in the PGI. AAIP's report on the PGI makes the bold recommendation of establishing a PGI Indo-Pacific secretariat in Singapore to help locate and craft bankable projects and advise on the strategic development of funds, guarantees, and technical support to maximize development impact.

Join AmCham and AAIP and learn about the potential of the PGI, discuss the main recommendations in the AAIP report, and explore the four PGI areas of focus and what those could mean for U.S. businesses and investors.

* For any enquires please contact the AmCham Programming and Events Team at pe@amcham.com.sg.

* Cancellation Policy: No refunds will be provided for cancellations. Replacements will be accepted.

Speakers

Ambassador Jonathan Kaplan

U.S. Ambassador to Singapore

Jason Bajaj

Co-Founder and Co-Managing Partner of The Osiris Group

Steven Xavier Chan

International Head of Government Relations, Asia-Pacific & Latin America at PayPal Pte Ltd

Ambassador Kurt Tong

Partner at The Asia Group

Simon Booker

Partner & Infrastructure Leader at PwC Hong Kong

Jackson Cox

Interim President at AAIP

Dr. Hsien-Hsien Lei

CEO of AmCham Singapore

Charles Freeman

Senior Vice President for Asia at U.S. Chamber of Commerce

David A. Katz

Managing Director of Public Affairs, Asia-Pacific at KKR

Matt Murray

U.S. Senior Official For Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) & Bureau Of East Asian And Pacific Affairs

Danica Starks

Head of DOC Multilateral Development Bank Group & Senior U.S. Commercial Liaison to the World Bank

Jason Bajaj is Co-Founder & Co-Managing Partner of The Osiris Group, a private equity firm scaling acceleration and growth equity capital in low and middle-income Indo-Pacific.
Acting as owner-operators, Osiris’ ESG & Impact integrated investments in low-income nations helps service basic human needs, creates local jobs and upgrades technological productivity – a virtuous cycle precursor where private sector investment portfolios enhance inclusive growth, strengthen community resilience and capture uncorrelated, market-rate returns.

Jason has 30 years of Indo-Pacific portfolio experience focused on the intersection of public policy, economic development and cross-asset investments. He is the architect of Osiris’ UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) portfolio construction process, sourcing and deal underwriting, value creation, risk mitigation and impact management. Operating areas of expertise include: climate mitigation, food security, digital infrastructure & delivery, health security and financial inclusion.

Jason is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, The Wharton School, and previously served as President of The American Club Hong Kong and was the Founding Board Member of the American Club Hong Kong Foundation. He currently commutes between Washington DC, Hong Kong, Dhaka, Dubai and Islamabad.

Steven Xavier Chan is the senior director and regional head of government relations, Asia-Pacific, for Paypal. Based in Singapore, he leads government advocacy, strategy and outreach efforts across 15 markets in the region.

Steven has more than 20 years of combined government and industry experience in international trade and public policy. Prior to joining Paypal, he was the managing director and regional head of regulatory, industry and government affairs for State Street based in Hong Kong. Steven also served as Director of Government Relations and Corporate Social Responsibility for the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai. He previously held various positions in the US government as a Foreign Service Officer with the Department of State with overseas and domestic assignments in Mexico, China, and Washington D.C., and as Deputy Director for China and Mongolia Affairs with the Department of Commerce. He also worked at Booz Allen Hamilton and Deloitte Consulting supporting change management and enterprise transformation projects for large organizations.

Steven currently serves as chair of Emerging Payments Association Asia Advisory Board, board member of AmCham Hong Kong and the National Center for APEC, and an industry leader of the APEC Asia Pacific Financial Forum. Steven earned a Master of Arts in international economics and China studies from the School of Advanced International Studies at The Johns Hopkins University and a Bachelor of Arts in international affairs and economics from Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon.

Ambassador Kurt Tong is a Partner and member of the Executive Committee at The Asia Group, where he leads the firm’s work in Japan and Hong Kong, and on East Asia regional policy matters. He also leads the firm’s analytics team and innovative thought leadership programs.

Prior to joining The Asia Group, Ambassador Tong served as Consul General and Chief of Mission in Hong Kong and Macau, leading U.S. political and economic engagement with that important free trade hub. Prior to that role, he served as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Economic and Business Affairs at the State Department from 2014 to 2016. He also served as the Deputy Chief of Mission and Chargé d’Affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo from 2011 to 2014.

Prior to these positions, Ambassador Tong served as Ambassador for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in 2011. As Director of Korean Affairs in the State Department’s Bureau of East Asia and Pacific Affairs, he played a leadership role in negotiations with North Korea as part of the Six-Party Talks and in securing the release of captive Americans held there. He was one of the original architects of the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement during the Bush and Obama administrations, including while serving as Director for Asian Economic Affairs at the White House National Security Council from 2006 to 2008.

Earlier in his career, Ambassador Tong served as Economic Minister-Counselor in Seoul, Counselor for Environment, Science and Health at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, Deputy Treasury Attaché in Tokyo, and as an economic officer in Manila

Ambassador Tong holds a B.A. from The Princeton School of Public and International Affairs and studied economics at the U.S. Foreign Service Institute. He has also studied at the Beijing Institute of Education, Inter-University Program for Chinese Language Studies in Taipei, Inter-University Center for Japanese Language Studies in Tokyo, and the International Christian University in Tokyo.

Ambassador Tong speaks and reads both Japanese and Mandarin Chinese. He was born in Ohio and raised in New England. The son of a collegiate athletic coach, Ambassador Tong enjoys tennis, golf and other sports. He is married to Dr. Mika Marumoto. They have three grown children.

Mr. Simon Booker is a Partner with PwC Hong Kong where he focuses on Government and public sector consulting. He serves Government clients and statutory bodies throughout the Asia Pacific region. Prior to this, Simon worked for PwC in the United Kingdom and the British Government – where he was responsible for enhancing work-based regulation, strategy and innovation.

Simon has worked extensively in the field of Vocational Professional Education and Training (VPET) and has advised the Government of the HKSAR and specifically the Hong Kong Vocational Training Council on the development of a VPET strategy – which drew upon Global best practice. He has also advised on the development of reference guides and frameworks through which work-based training providers can maximize impact and develop vocational skills that meet the requirements of the workforce of tomorrow.

Jackson Cox is Founder and CEO of Woodmont International, a private firm that was established in 2005 to provide public affairs and government relations consulting services to companies and investors throughout the Asia-Pacific region.

Jackson served as Chairman of the Asia-Pacific Biden-Harris 2020 Leadership Committee, an ad hoc volunteer group that mobilized support and raised over $1 million to support the Biden Victory Fund.

Jackson is a founder and the Interim President of the American Association of the Indo-Pacific, a regional-based business association that works to strengthen American business in the Indo-Pacific.

Mr. Cox was elected Chairman of the Asia Pacific Council of American Chambers of Commerce in March 2015. APCAC was established in 1968 and is the association of 30 American Chambers of Commerce in the Asia Pacific region. APCAC’s collective membership represents over 15,000 companies, 50,000 overseas American workers, and annual trade and investment of over US$500 billion. Mr. Cox is also the Founder of the American Chamber of Commerce in Mongolia – the official affiliate office of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Mongolia.

Prior to founding Woodmont International, Mr. Cox worked in the international political sector where he managed projects in Mongolia and Cambodia for the International Republican Institute.

Mr. Cox is from Johnson City, Tennessee and a graduate of Belmont University in Nashville. He served as the East Tennessee campaign chairman for Bill Frist’s successful campaign for United States Senate in 1994 and as the Political Director of Frist’s re-election in 2000. Mr. Cox served as advisor to Senator Frist in the U.S. Senate in Washington, D.C. from 1995 to 2001.

Dr. Hsien-Hsien Lei is Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of The American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) in Singapore — the largest and the most active international business association in Singapore and Southeast Asia, with over 6,000 members representing over 550 companies. Hsien is also Adjunct Associate Professor at the National University of Singapore Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, member of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Advisory Board, member of the Singapore Institute of Directors MNC Committee, co-lead of the WorkWell Leaders SME Action Sub-Group, and on the organizing committee of the Precision Public Health Asia Conference.

Prior to AmCham, Hsien was Vice President, Medical and Scientific Affairs, Medtronic Asia Pacific, where she was responsible for the Medtronic Innovation Centers in Japan and Korea, training and education, and the company’s health systems transformation strategy in the region. Hsien has extensive experience in scientific affairs, corporate and healthcare communications, advertising, public relations and government affairs.

Hsien has lived and worked in the US, Taiwan, Japan, Vietnam, UK, and is now based in Singapore. She holds a BA (with honors) in Human Biology from Stanford University and a PhD in Epidemiology from The Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health where she was the recipient of a US National Institutes of Health Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology Training Grant. Her doctoral thesis explored the genetic epidemiology of end-stage renal disease and type 2 diabetes. She completed her post-doctoral fellowship at National Taiwan University Hospital in the Department of Internal Medicine.

Charles Freeman is the Senior Vice President for Asia at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and has been helping companies navigate complex markets in the Asia-Pacific for 25 years. His career included senior stints in government, business, law, and academia, giving him a unique perspective on the challenges and opportunities in the world’s most dynamic region.
During his government career, Freeman was assistant U.S. trade representative for China affairs, serving as principal U.S. trade negotiator with China. He also was legislative counsel in the U.S. Senate, where he concentrated on East Asian economic and trade issues.

After leaving government, Freeman consulted on Chinese and other Asia-focused business and policy matters for some of the world’s leading companies during market entry, expansion, and crises phases alike. He also served as PepsiCo’s vice president for global public policy and government affairs for Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.

In addition, Freeman was chair of China studies at Washington, D.C.-based think tank the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Earlier, he was based in Hong Kong with The Asia Foundation and the International Herald Tribune and worked as a securities lawyer and venture capitalist investing in emerging markets in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and China.

He is on the board of directors of Harding Loevner Funds, an internationally focused mutual fund group and is also a senior adviser to CSIS.

Freeman earned his doctor of law degree from Boston University’s School of Law and his bachelor’s degree in Asian studies and economics from Tufts University. He did postgraduate work at Fudan University in Shanghai and studied Mandarin Chinese at the Taipei Language Institute.

David Katz is Managing Director of Public Affairs for Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) Asia Ltd. based in Singapore. David leads the corporate communications, government relations, corporate citizenship and environmental, social and governance (ESG) functions for KKR across markets in the Asia Pacific. David also sits on KKR’s Asia Pacific leadership team.

Previously he was the Deputy Head of Global Government Relations and Head of Asia Pacific Government Relations for PayPal Inc. and sat on PayPal’s Asia Pacific leadership team. Prior to PayPal Inc., he worked at eBay Inc., where he managed Asia Pacific GR for both eBay Marketplace and PayPal - then owned by eBay Inc. Before joining eBay, David worked at Visa Inc. where he served as their first head of GR for the Asia region.

David was also Chief of Party of a USAID program in the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Secretariat in Singapore, where he advanced policy and capacity building. David served in the Executive Office of the President for eight years as a Senior Director at the United States Trade Representative (USTR) with responsibility for Southeast Asia, APEC, China and Taiwan trade policy. Prior to USTR, David was an economic officer in the U.S. diplomatic service, with tours in Taiwan, Mongolia, and Singapore, and he was a special assistant to U.S. Secretaries of State Madeleine Albright and Colin Powell.

David earned an MBA from the University of Edinburgh and his BA from the University of California at Berkeley.

Matt Murray was appointed as the U.S. Senior Official for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in February 2022. In this role, he coordinates U.S. participation in APEC and also oversees the Office of Economic Policy in the State Department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs.

Prior to his current assignment, Matt led the State Department’s Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs (EB) as Senior Bureau Official from August 2021 to January 2022, and he served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Trade Policy and Negotiations from September 2020 to August 2021.

Matt has focused on U.S. economic engagement with the Asia Pacific region throughout his State Department career, including as Minister Counselor for Economic Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, Counselor for Economic Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Canberra, and Special Assistant for East Asian and Pacific issues in the Office of the Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy and Environment.

Matt is a Senior Foreign Service Officer who also has served overseas in Beijing, Shanghai, Dar es Salaam and New Delhi and in Washington, D.C. as Director of the 24/7 Watch in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research. He has master’s degrees from the U.S. Army War College and the University of Pittsburgh and a bachelor’s degree from Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland.

Danica R. Starks is the Senior U.S. Commercial Liaison and Advisor to the U.S. Executive Director at the World Bank and Head of the Commerce Department’s Multilateral Development Bank Group. Physically embedded at the World Bank in Washington, DC, Danica represents the interests of the U.S. Department of Commerce to the World Bank Group and serves as a liaison between the Bank and U.S. business community. In this role, Danica also oversees the Department of Commerce’s Liaison Offices at the other multilateral banks, including the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (London, UK), Asian Development Bank (Manila, Philippines), African Development Bank (Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire) and Inter-American Development Bank (Washington, DC).

Danica has over twenty years of experience in international economic policy, commercial diplomacy, trade, and national security, with a specialization in Europe and Eurasia. Most recently Danica served as the Director of the Policy Team at the U.S. Department of Commerce in the Office of Russia, Ukraine & Eurasia. She has also previously done assignments as a Senior Advisor at the U.S. Helsinki Commission and to the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Global Markets.

Danica is a Presidential Management Fellow alumna and holds a Master’s of Science at the Dwight D. Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy, one of two Joint U. S. Military War Colleges, at the National Defense University, where she pursued a concentration in European Studies and was named top student in the Space Industry Study. Danica also holds an M.A. in International Affairs with concentrations in Development and Transition Economics and Russian, Eurasian and Eastern European Studies from the Johns Hopkins University Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies and a B.A. in International Studies and Economics with a minor in Russian and Eastern European Affairs from The American University. Danica speaks Russian and Spanish and has studied Czech, Italian, Serbo-Croatian and Norwegian.

Danica is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. (and currently heads the Refugee Assistance in America Program for her local chapter) as well as Chief. She has a passion for mentoring which she does through several organizations, including her own Monthly Mentoring Mondays program, is the Prince George’s County Lead for Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, the Co-Founder of the ITA Ambassadors Program, a diversity recruitment initiative and serves on the board of E.M.I.C.- Engaging Minorities in International Cultures.

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