21 Fellows Selected Representing 14 Countries

New York, United States (March 25, 2009) /ChinaNewswire.com/ — Asia Society today announced the names of the 2009 class of Fellows for its Asia 21 Young Leaders Initiative, the leading cross-sectoral leadership development program in the Asia-Pacific region. Established by the Asia Society with support from Founding International Sponsor Merrill Lynch, the Asia 21 Young Leaders program brings together the most dynamic emerging leaders under the age of forty from across the Asia-Pacific region to develop shared, innovative approaches to the region's greatest challenges.

"It is increasingly clear in today's rapidly changing world that cooperation between the people, leaders and institutions of Asia and the United States will be critical to solving the world's greatest problems. To make this possible, we need new types of leaders from every country who can both understand the transnational nature of the challenges we face and work together to address them," said Asia Society Executive Vice President Jamie Metzl, who spearheads the program. "We are extremely proud to have selected such an impressive group of leaders for our 2009 Fellows class, who we hope, will be major catalysts in this process."

The Asia 21 initiative brings together Fellows from across the Asia-Pacific region representing a broad range of disciplines - business, politics, civil society, media, arts and culture, and academia - who participate in a series of meetings and conferences designed to generate creative, shared approaches to leadership and problem solving and develop collaborative public service projects. Fellows serve a two-year term and come together twice per year in different cities in Asia to address topics relating to environmental degradation, economic development, poverty eradication, universal education, conflict resolution, HIV/AIDS and public health crises, human rights, and other issues.

The first meeting of the 2009 class of Fellows will be held on March 29-April 1, 2009 in The Philippines.

The twenty-one young leaders chosen for this year's class of Asia 21 Fellows are:

Jumaatun Azmi (Malaysia)
Arnel Casanova (Philippines)
Steve Woo-Sung Chung (Korea)
Nitin Das (India)
Enkhchimeg Davaanyam (Mongolia)
Ming Fan (China)
Tamao Gunn (Japan)
Natalie Jorge (Philippines)
Gen Kanai (Japan)
Danny Levinson (USA)
Pardis Mahdavi (Iran)
Westley Watende Moore (USA)
Fawad Ahmad Muslim (Afghanistan)
Rashneh Pardiwala (India)
Truc Pham-Dinh (Vietnam)
Priti Radhakrishnan (USA)
Hendra Sutandinata (Indonesia)
Hsu-ming Teo (Australia)
Ting Hway Wong (Singapore)
Danwen Xing (China)
Keiko Yamamoto (Japan)

About Asia Society
Asia Society is the leading global organization working to strengthen relationships and promote understanding among the people, leaders, and institutions of Asia and the United States. We seek to enhance dialogue, encourage creative expression, and generate new ideas across the fields of policy, business, education, arts, and culture. Founded in 1956, Asia Society is a nonpartisan, nonprofit educational institution with offices in Hong Kong, Houston, Los Angeles, Manila, Melbourne, Mumbai, New York, San Francisco, Seoul, Shanghai, and Washington, DC. For more information, contact the Asia Society, 725 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10021.