Lunch provided to those who RSVP to Yumi Onoyama at yumio@stanford.edu by Tuesday, May 25.

12:00pm The Challenges and Opportunities to PetroChina in the Stock Market

Ruisheng Yong, PetroChina Company, Ltd.

12:20pm What Are the Conditions for Creating a Second Silicon Valley in Shizuoka Prefecture?

Ikuzo Matsushita, Shizuoka Prefectural Government

12:40pm Lessons of Entrepreneurial Education for Japan's Young Generation

Yoshinori Ueda, Kansai Electric Power Company

1:00pm Non-technology Issues Awaiting the E-paper Content Market--From Marketing & Legal Perspectives

Taizo Shiozaki, Impress Corporation

1:20pm Pension Investment and Fiduciary Duty in the United States

Fumiaki Tonoki, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry

1:40pm Renewable Energy and Environmental Policies in the Power Industry

Shinichiro Goko, Electric Power Development Company

2:00pm Application of 'Web Service' to Electronic Media

Atsushi Sato, Asahi Shimbun Company

The conference seeks to take a fresh look at the geopolitical consequences of a major shift to natural gas in the coming decades; indeed by most estimates global consumption of gas will double by 2030. But in the ares of highest projected demand - North America, Europe, China, and South and East Asia - demand is expected to outstrip indigenous supply. This implies the need for a huge amount of investment in the expansion of cross border gas transport infrastructure to bring gas from supply centers - particularly Russia and the Middle East.

What are the geopolitical implications of a more gas-intensive world? What can the history of cross-border gas infrastructure investment tell us about the political, economic, and legal issues we are likely to face as we become more dependent of natural gas? Is there a "resource curse" for gas? What is the likelihood that gas producers form a cartel to control prices - a Gas OPEC?

Hosted by former Secretary of State James Baker, the Geopolitics of Gas: From Today to 2030 conference will bring together experts from industry and academia to discuss these questions and more. PESD and the Baker Institute will present results from historical case studies of major cross-border gas infrastructure investments and results from the first integrated global gas trade model; keynote speakers include the Minister of Energy and Mines for Algeria.

World natural gas consumption is projected to more than double by 2030 -- surpassing coal as the world's #2 energy resource. Plentiful reserves exist but surplus gas supplies are far removed from future demand centers -- necessitating major investments in gas transport infrastructures. The growing importance of natural gas imports to modern economies will force new thinking about energy security.

The two-year collaborative study between Stanford PESD and the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy of Rice University includes seven historical case studies of built cross-border gas trade projects and economic modeling of global natural gas markets. The project aims to assess key factors affecting decision-making in large gas infrastructure investments and to then utilize these results to inform analysis of prospective developments in the world gas trade.

The seminar serves as a prelude to the Geopolitics of Gas Conference co-hosted by the Stanford Program on Energy and Sustainable Development and the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy of Rice University to be held May 26-27, 2004 in Houston, Texas.

Mr. Prakash will discuss the various challenges and issues that a company grapples with as it starts to plan a global sourcing initiative. He will present the different phases of such a life cycle and the nature of the work involved in each phase. His talk will highlight the stages and steps involved in a typical center buildout and work migration from "pitcher" country to "catcher" country. Anupam Prakash is the practice leader of Hewitt's Global Sourcing practice in the Asia-Pacific region. He has been leading Hewitt's efforts in this area with considerable success (including co-leading Hewitt's own, internal global sourcing initiatives two years ago). More recently, he has been instrumental in helping to develop Hewitt's external global sourcing offer, as well as supporting client work in "pitcher" countries, such as the United States and the European Union countries. He has consulted with a "who's who" of companies moving operations and talent to the Indian subcontinent. Current projects include work with major multinationals such as Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Thomson, Dell, Deloitte, Agere, and Gillette. In addition, Prakash consults with several state governments, trade bodies, third-party outsourcers and alliance partners on the "catcher" side. Prakash is currently involved in cross-border sales and projects with several Fortune 500 companies and Hewitt's global clients looking at sourcing work and talent worldwide.

A buffet lunch will be available to those who RSVP by 12:00 p.m. Monday, May 3 to Debbie Warren at dawarren@stanford.edu. Douglas H. Paal is the director of the American Institute in Taiwan, the unofficial instrument for U.S. relations with Taiwan. Previously, he was president of the Asia Pacific Policy Center (APPC), a nonprofit institution in Washington, DC, which advocated bipartisan policy in the promotion of trade and investment, as well as defense and security ties across the Pacific. Prior to forming the APPC, Mr. Paal was special assistant to President Bush for National Security Affairs and senior director for Asian Affairs on the National Security Council, where he also served in the Reagan Administration. Mr. Paal has worked in the State Department with the Policy Planning Staff and as a senior analyst for the CIA. He also served in the U.S. Embassies in Singapore and Beijing. He studied Asian history at Brown and Harvard Universities and the Japanese language in Tokyo. He has published frequently on Asian affairs and national security issues.

A buffet lunch will be available to those who RSVP by 12:00pm, Wednesday, April 21 to Rakhi Patel. In the last three years, partly as the result of the efforts of a burgeoning conservative movement, the issue of human rights in North Korea has attained greater prominence in the statements and policy positions of the U.S. government. The administration connects this shift in emphasis in U.S. policy to its calls for greater moral clarity in foreign policy. At the same time, the administration has clearly enunciated its desire for regime change in North Korea, and the human rights issue has served as a method of cultivating public support for this policy, both domestically and internationally. Toward this end, the administration has revived a Cold War foreign policy approach from the 1970s and 1980s that connected human rights to economic and security issues--exemplified in the Jackson-Vanik amendment linking trade to emigration levels for Soviet Jews and the inclusion of human rights issues in the 1975 Helsinki Accords. The application of this model to North Korea demonstrates a failure to understand the differences between Eastern Europe and East Asia in general and the nature of civil society under Soviet communism and North Korean juche. It also fails to draw any useful lessons from the experience of the European Union and South Korea in dealing with Pyongyang on human rights. The unquestionably dire human rights situation in North Korea--and the character of its government and society--requires a set of policy approaches that need updating from the Cold War period and adaptation to the North Korean and East Asian context. John Feffer's most recent book is North Korea, South Korea: U.S. Policy at a Time of Crisis (Seven Stories, 2003). He is also the editor of the Foreign Policy in Focus book Power Trip: U.S. Unilateralism and Global Policy after September 11 (Seven Stories, 2003). His other books include Beyond Detente: Soviet Foreign Policy and U.S. Options (Hill & Wang, 1990) and Shock Waves: Eastern Europe After the Revolutions (South End, 1992). His other edited collections include Living in Hope: People Challenging Globalization (Zed Books, 2002) and (with Richard Caplan) Europe's New Nationalism: States and Minorities in Conflict (Oxford University Press, 1996). His articles have appeared in The American Prospect, The Progressive, Newsday, Asiaweek, Asia Times, TomPaine.com, Salon.com, and elsewhere. He is a former associate editor of World Policy Journal and has worked for the American Friends Service Committee, most recently as an international affairs representative in East Asia. He serves on the advisory committees of FPIF and the Alliance of Scholars Concerned about Korea.