From the President, December 2011

Dear Colleagues,

After reflecting upon 2011 and my term as Presidetn, i am pleased to reoprt on the various developments concerning the IPBA and its activities:

Creation of networking opportunities, activities in various jurisdictions and development of relationships with local bar associations
As the IPBA is increasingly being recognized as a prominent business lawyers association, we have been receiving many requests from various organizations, including journals, marketing companies and professional associations. Depending upon the nature of the requests, the officers in charge and the secretariat will review and decide whether to support or jointly work with such organizations. The officers have been trying their best to collect relevant information and referrals etc., to analyze the appropriateness of our involvement in joint activities with other organizations. Although making such decisions sometimes takes time and is difficult, the substantial increase of such requests shows the increasing recognition of the IPBA in the legal community and other industries as well.

One successful example of a joint project is the International Financial Law Review Asia M&A Forum, which is jointly hosted by the IFLR and the IPBA (and which is now in its 8th year). The next forum will be held in February, in Hong Kong. The members of the 2012 New Delhi Host Committee (headed by Lalit Bhasin with various other members, including Ravi Nath, Praveen Agarwal and Rohit Kochhar) visited Osaka on 13 October and Tokyo on 14 October, as well as Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and Toronto in the early part of November. I really appreciate the strong support shown by IPBA members in each of the relevant venues, including among others, Gerold Libby, David Laverty, Ken Stuart, Jaipat Jain, Bill Scott, Vic Arora, Masafumi Kodama, Hiroe Toyoshima, Miyuki Ishiguro and Hisashi Hara. We are also grateful to Ken Stuart for arranging facilities with the cooperation of the New York City Bar Association in New York.

The Host Committee also visited Seoul and Hong Kong, and will visit China and Malaysia as well. with their visits to other venues prior to their visit to Japan, the Host Committee created good opportunities to enhance the recognition of the IPBA and to further promote the IPBA's activities in the different jurisdictions.
Development of relationships with international organizations
The IPBA held a joint program at the IBA Annual Conference in Dubai ("Asian Investment in the Middle East") on 31 October. Upon the invitation of the IBA, the leaders of the IBA and the IPBA conducted a brief meeting in Dubai about our activities. Lalit Bhasin (President-Elect), Young-Moo Shin (Vice President) and I attended the meeting. We were informed that a special program for leaders of international organizations will be included in the 2012 Annual Meeting and Conference program in New Delhi and it is expected that the leaders of the IBA, the ABA, the AIJA, etc., will join that program. I appreciate the efforts made by Lalit Bhasin and other Host Committee members in organizing such a special program to promote and develop relationships with other international organizations.
Collaboration with APEC
The APEC Summit Meeting was held in Honolulu from 9-14 November. The IPBA APEC Special Committee plans to have a special APEC session at the 2012 Delhi Annual Conference, focusing on APEC's activities in 2012 (the US year), the preparations for the 2012 APEC in Russia (including issues for Russia's participation in the WTO) and trade regulation issues (including TPP, the Trans-Pacific Partnership). APEC officials told us that APEC appreciated the active support of the IPBA, which is an important stakeholder in the Asia Pacific region, and I hope that the collaboration with APEC will further enhance the IPBA's recognition among government officials and private sectors, and provide various incentives to our IPBA colleagues.
Development of Scholarship activities
As the Asia Pacific region is drawing global attention, it is of vital importance for the IPBA to provide promising lawyers in developing jurisdictions with appropriate assistance and support. The Japan Association of the IPBA is preparing to activate the Japan Fund and I hope that such activities will deepen the support from our colleagues and their friends.
The New Delhi 2012 Annual Conference
The Host Committee members are now visiting many venues o promote the IPBA and the IPBA Annual Meeting and Conference in New Delhi, and are making the necessary preparations to make this event very successful and memorable for all of us. The next Conference will definitely be another exciting and worthwhile event for many participants expected to attend.

I do hope to see you all very soon in New Delhi

Shiro Kuniya
IPBA President