On April 15, 2015, the Atlantic Council's Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security will convene an event featuring Tatsuo Yamasaki, Japan's Vice Minister of Finance for International Affairs. The Vice Minister will address the subject of "Japan's Vision for Prosperity and Institutional Governance in the Asia-Pacific Region." 

Vice Minister Yamasaki will visit the United States next week in connection with the spring meeting of the IMF and World Bank. His visit comes at a time when new regional initiatives, such as the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) are showing strong momentum. Internationalization of the RMB is expanding. However, risks of fragmentation in the finance, monetary and trade architecture are present. Moreover, consensus economic forecasts point to the near-term prospect of economic slowdown in the region. In the United States, Congressional impasse continues to delay implementation of governance reforms in existing multilateral financial institutions and also casts doubt on the ability to conclude the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The Vice Minister's visit will also precede by only a few weeks Prime Minister Abe's summit meeting with President Obama where economic and trade issues will be important components of the bilateral agenda.

Vice Minister Yamasaki was appointed to his current position in July 2014 after serving in the Ministry of Finance since 1980. The Vice Minister is Japan's senior international financial diplomat and serves as Japan's G20 and G7 Finance Deputy.

NO PRESS ALLOWED.
This event is NOT FOR ATTRIBUTION.

April 15, 2014
2:00 - 3:00 p.m.

Atlantic Council
1030 15th Street NW
12th Floor (West Tower Elevator)
Washington, DC