On 7 March 2009, H.E. Dato' Hussein Haniff, Ambassador of Malaysia was invited to be one of the panellists in the Ambassadorial Debate Asia, organised by the Centre Européen de Recherches Internationales et Stratégiques (CERIS).
The debate was moderated by Mr. David Fouquet from the Asia Europe Project and the keynote speaker was delivered by H.E. Pisan Manawapat, Ambassador of Thailand. Other members of the panel were:
HE Nadjib Riphat Kesoema, Ambassador of Indonesia;
HE Yuanyuan Zhang, Ambassador of China;
Baron Willem Van de Voorde, Head of European Policy Coordination Unit, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Belgium;
Mrs. R. Shada Islam, European Policy Centre; and
Mr. Nagayo Taniguchi, Japan, Journalist.
The Ambassadorial Debate Asia was part of the 4-week Asian Module set by the CERIS for its Master of Arts in International Politics programme. The event was attended by almost 100 students, majority of them are either working with respective missions or private company based in Belgium.
The event was organised in two sessions. The first session was on Regional Cooperation in Asia and the second session was on Consequences of the Credit Crunch and Asian View on the Global Financial Architecture.
According to the Organiser, the event was a big success with the presence of a large diplomatic representation as well as journalist and NGOs. The presence of HE Dato' Hussein Haniff was highly appreciated by the organiser as it was the first participation from the Embassy of Malaysia, Brussels, Belgium with CERIS.