U.S. Department of Treasury's Robert Dohner Examines Challenges and Opportunities for Global Economic Recovery

For Immediate Release

The United States & Japan in the Post-Crisis World

Wednesday, February 10, 2010, Noon at Japan Society

New York -- Japan Society welcomes Robert Dohner, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Asia, United States Department of the Treasury to keynote The United States & Japan in the Post-Crisis World. Presided by Jeffrey Shafer, Vice Chairman, Global Banking; Senior Asia Pacific Representative in New York, Citi, the discussion takes place Wednesday, February 10, Noon at Japan Society.

Robert Dohner is currently the Treasury Department Deputy Assistant Secretary for Asia, responsible for helping shape U.S. Treasury Department policy on regional and country-specific economic issues in Asia. Mr. Dohner brings experience from his current role, along with a command of Japan-specific issues gathered from his days as Treasury’s Financial Attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo during the Japanese financial crisis of the late 1990s into the beginning of the Koizumi Administration. In The United States & Japan in the Post-Crisis World, he speaks about the challenges faced and the opportunities for cooperation between the United States and Japan in assuring strong, sustained, and balanced global growth after the worst post-war financial crisis and recession.

The East Asia Office at the U.S. Treasury Department helps develop and guide U.S. economic policy towards 13 economies in the region, including China, Japan, the Philippines and South Korea. It also leads Treasury's engagement with Asian regional bodies, including the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum among various regional financial initiatives. APEC will be hosted in Japan in 2010 and in the United States in 2011. Organizers in both countries see this as a good opportunity to get traction on establishing balanced, inclusive and sustainable growth within the APEC region. As the lead Treasury Department official in charge of the Asian part of the APEC region, Mr. Dohner appears at Japan Society as work gets underway developing an agenda for APEC 2010 in Yokohama, Japan.

Agenda: Noon, registration & reception; 12:30, luncheon; 1-2, lecture and Q&A.

Admission: $65 lunch and lecture/$15 lecture only. Japan Society Corporate Members are entitled to a designated number of FREE admissions based on their company's membership level. Discounted rates are available for additional Japan Society Corporate Members, certain individual members, government officials and academics. To register or for more information, please email register@japansociety.org, visit www.japansociety.org/corporateevents, or call 212-715-1208.

Before Robert Dohner became Deputy Assistant Secretary for Asia, he was the Director of the East Asia Office, responsible for China, Japan, and other economies of East and Southeast Asia. Prior Treasury positions include Tokyo Financial Attaché and Director of the Office of Central and Eastern Europe. Before joining Treasury, Dohner was a Senior Economist at the President’s Council of Economic Advisers, a Principal Economist at the OECD, and Senior Economic Adviser to Under Secretary of State for Economic and Agricultural Affairs Robert Zoellick during the first Bush Administration. He also taught economics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, and he has worked at the GATT and the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Dohner has a Ph.D. in economics from M.I.T. and a 35 year old MGB.

Jeffrey R. Shafer is the Vice Chairman of Citi’s Global Banking and Senior Asia Pacific Officer in New York where he is responsible for key Asia Pacific government and corporate client relationships. Since joining the firm in February 1997, Mr. Shafer has worked with governments in Asia, Latin America and Europe on financial stabilization, liability management, debt issuance and privatization. From 1993 to 1997, Mr. Shafer was Assistant Secretary and subsequently Under Secretary of the U.S. Treasury for International Affairs. At the Treasury Department, he was responsible for international economic and financial issues. From 1984 until 1993, Mr. Shafer held a series of high-level positions at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Prior to the OECD, he served with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the Federal Reserve Board and the Council of Economic Advisors. Mr. Shafer holds a B.A. in Economics from Princeton University and M.Phil and Ph.D. degrees in Economics from Yale University. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Established in 1907, Japan Society has evolved into North America's major producer of high-quality content on Japan for an English-speaking audience. Presenting over 100 events annually through well established Corporate, Education, Film, Gallery, Language, Lectures, Performing Arts and Innovators Network programs, the Society is an internationally recognized nonprofit, nonpolitical organization that provides access to information on Japan, offers opportunities to experience Japanese culture, and fosters sustained and open dialogue on issues important to the U.S., Japan, and East Asia.

Japan Society is located at 333 East 47th St. between First and Second Avenues (accessible by the 4/5/6 and 7 subway at Grand Central or the E and V subway at Lexington Ave.) Call 212-832-1155 or visit www.japansociety.org for more information.

The United States & Japan in the Post-Crisis World is supported by Citigroup Inc.; Continental Airlines; Deloitte & Touche, LLP; Mizuho Securities USA; and Toyota Motor North America.

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Shannon Jowett
Japan Society
T: 212-715-1205
F: 212-715-1262
E: sjowett@japansociety.org

Kuniko Shiobara
Japan Society
T: 212-715-1249
F: 212-715-1262
E: kshiobara@japansociety.org