Amb. Kurt Tong | Managing Partner, The Asia Group
Ambassador Kurt Tong is Managing Partner at The Asia Group, where he leads the firm’s  work in Japan and the broader East Asia region. Before joining The Asia Group, Ambassador Tong was an American diplomat for 30 years. From 2016 to 2019, he served as Consul General and Chief of Mission in Hong Kong and Macau. He was the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Economic and Business Affairs at the State Department from 2014 to 2016, guiding the Department’s efforts as its most senior career diplomat handling economic affairs. He also served as the Deputy Chief of Mission and Chargé d’Affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo from 2011 to 2014, setting the stage for Japan’s entry into the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Ambassador Tong was Ambassador for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in 2011, leading the U.S. chairmanship of the organization during one of the most productive periods for APEC. He worked in the White House as Director for Asian Affairs during the George W. Bush Administration and handled negotiations with North Koreaon nuclear issues and other matters there and at the Department of State. In addition to Hong Kong and Tokyo, his overseas postings include Beijing, Seoul and Manila.

Prof. Kazuto Suzuki | Graduate School of Public Policy at the University of Tokyo, Japan & Director of the Institute of Geoeconomics at International House of Japan
Prof, Suzuki graduated from the Department of International Relations, Ritsumeikan University, and received Ph.D. from Sussex European Institute, University of Sussex, England. He has worked in the Fondation pour la recherche stratégique in Paris, France as assistant researcher and the Associate Professor at the University of Tsukuba from 2000 to 2008 and served as Professor of International Politics at Hokkaido University until 2020. He served as an expert in the Panel of Experts for Iranian Sanction Committee under the United Nations Security Council from 2013 to July 2015. He currently serves as a member of the National Space Policy Committee of the Cabinet Office, the Government of Japan, and the President of Japan Association of International Security and Trade. His research focuses on the conjunction of science/technology and international relations; subjects including space policy, non-proliferation, export control and sanctions. His recent work includes Space and International Politics (2011, in Japanese, awarded Suntory Prize for Social Sciences and Humanities), Policy Logics and Institutions of European Space Collaboration (2003) and many others.