As the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF)‘s first Executive Director, Ambassador KOH presided over the beginning of serious engagements between both regions through the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Process.
On 16 July 2020, we held a virtual event where Ambassador KOH shared fascinating insights on ASEF’s and ASEM’s role in addressing common global challenges we face today.
Ambassador KOH was in conversation with Mr Lawrence ANDERSON, Director, ASEF’s Communications Department; Former Ambassador of Singapore to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Kingdom of Bahrain.
About Ambassador Tommy KOH
Tommy KOH is currently Professor of Law at NUS; Ambassador-At-Large at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; the Rector of the Tembusu College at NUS; Chairman of the Governing Board of the Centre for International Law at the National University of Singapore (NUS) and Special Adviser to IPS. He is the Chairman of the International Advisory Panel of the Asia Research Institute (NUS) and Chairman of the Advisory Committee of the Master’s Degree on Environmental Management (NUS). He is also the Co-chairman of the Asian Development Bank’s Advisory Committee on Water and Sanitation. He is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the SymAsia Foundation of Credit Suisse (pro bono).
He had served as Dean of the Faculty of Law of NUS, Singapore’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York, Ambassador to the United States of America, High Commissioner to Canada and Ambassador to Mexico. He was President of the Third UN Conference on the Law of the Sea. He was also the Chairman of the Preparatory Committee for and the Main Committee of the UN Conference on Environment and Development (Earth Summit). He was the UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy to Russia, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. He was the founding Chairman of the National Arts Council, founding Executive Director of the Asia-Europe Foundation and former Chairman of the National Heritage Board. He was Singapore’s Chief Negotiator in negotiating an agreement to establish diplomatic relations between Singapore and China. He was also Singapore’s Chief Negotiator for the US-Singapore Free Trade Agreement. He acted as Singapore’s Agent in two legal disputes with Malaysia. He has chaired two dispute panels for the WTO. He is the Co Chairman of the China Singapore Forum and the Japan-Singapore Symposium.
Professor Koh has received awards from the Governments of Singapore, Chile, Finland, France, Japan, Netherlands, Spain and the United States. Professor Koh received the Champion of the Earth Award from UNEP and the inaugural President’s Award for the Environment from Singapore. He was conferred with honorary doctoral degrees in law by Yale and Monash Universities. Harvard University conferred on him the Great Negotiator Award in 2014.
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