This year’s AIC comes at a time when the impact of global issues and secular themes – including European financial and political stability, geo-political disputes in the Pacific, ASEAN rising and the increasing penetration of e-commerce in the Asia Pacific region - have never been felt more acutely by investors.

The 16th Credit Suisse AIC will run from March 18-22 in Hong Kong. More than 6,000 private meetings are expected to take place during the five-day program, offering unrivalled corporate access to complement the AIC’s thematic keynote addresses and panels, as well as Credit Suisse’s highly-ranked economic, sector and market strategy research.

Credit Suisse analysts forecast a 2013 year-end MSCI Asia Ex-Japan Index (MXASJ) target of 650 —offering 17% potential upside from the current MXASJ level of 554.81. Net foreign buying in Emerging Asia (ex China) has reached US$ 12.4 billion by mid February.

Credit Suisse Asia Pacific CEO Eric Varvel said: “For Investors in Asia Pacific, the region continues to provide opportunities to participate in pivotal stages of country and industry development that do not exist elsewhere. We continue to see enthusiasm for ASEAN, renewed optimism in North Asia, while Japan has received unprecedented attention in the past few months on the back of expectations of strong macroeconomic initiatives by the new government. In both China and Korea, investors are looking forward to the policies of new governments.

“The AIC is a unique opportunity to get an informed and comprehensive view of the opportunities from experts and key participants inside and outside the region," said Mr. Varvel.

The 16th Credit Suisse AIC presents a strong line-up of keynote speakers, whose opinion and expertise influence industry, markets, government and society.

Themes to be addressed include the prognosis for the global economy, the new resurgence of interest in Japan, the growing penetration of e-commerce in Asia Pacific and the power of commodities markets. The AIC opens with H.E. Ali I. Al-Naimi , Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest producer and exporter of oil, discussing the growing importance of Asia-Saudi Arabia partnerships; while another highly expericed participant in commodities markets, Murilo Ferreira , President and Chief Executive Officer, Vale S.A, the second largest metals and mining company in the world, will take the pulse of hard commodities prices over the current economic cycle. Both have a unique perspective on the future supply and demand expectations of commodities, which are often seen as a proxy for global economic growth expectations.

Global macro-economic policies will be a key theme being discussed at the AIC this year. Tackling the enduring question of whether Europe can meet the long-term structural challenges it is facing, former President of the European Central Bank, Jean-Claude Trichet , will also address AIC delegates - just at a time when investors are again challenging the durability of the current reforms that have been implemented.

More broadly, questions over how Europe, China and the United States – as the three largest global economic blocs - will interact to create more sustainable global growth will also be discussed by three seasoned economic policy-makers: Song Guoqing , Member, Monetary Policy Committee, People's Bank of China and Professor, National School of Development, Peking University, Glenn Hubbard , Dean, Columbia Business School and former Chairman, White House Council of Economic Advisers under George W. Bush and Lorenzo Bini Smaghi , former Member, Executive Board, European Central Bank and visiting Scholar, Harvard’s Weatherhead Center for International Affairs and at the Istituto Affari Internazionali.

Japan is another economy, where there has been a resugence of investor interest, following the election of a new government, and Credit Suisse is delighted to welcome Former Japan Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama , who will discuss his country’s prospects under the new administration.

From the corporate world, one of the most visible secular trends being seen is the increasing penetration of e-commerce into retailing. Credit Suisse is delighted to welcome two e-commerce pioneers to the AIC: Jack Ma , Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Alibaba Group, the biggest e-commerce company in China; and Peter Thiel , technology entrepreneur, investor and philanthropist, who was a co-founder of PayPal and an early investor in many web-based applications, including Facebook.

Other themes to be discussed at the AIC include trends in the investment markets and where the next alpha opportunities could lie. Laurence D. Fink , Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, BlackRock, Inc will present his perspective on the transformative forces in play in the world of finance and investing.

Finally and taking a completely different perspective, Brian Cox OBE , Professor of Particle Physics at Manchester University and a leader on the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Geneva, will share his observations on how science is the incubator for innovation, and how new discoveries today can become the technologies for tomorrow.

As usual, the 16th Credit Suisse AIC will also feature a range of popular panel sessions, focusing on a wide array of topics including: geo-political disputes in Asia Pacific, US energy security, gender diversity on corporate boards, India economic reform, China new leadership’s challenge, ASEAN’s search for sustained growth, as well as investment themes across asset classes.

Credit Suisse’s leading economists and strategists will also provide their insight into global, regional and sectoral investment themes and trends throughout the course of the conference.

Credit Suisse will be tweeting links to media coverage of the key speakers and themes that the AIC will cover as well as coverage from its online conference news service – AIC Reporter – and video replays of conference sessions. Please follow the AIC’s dedicated Twitter feed: @csapac.

For more information, please see our conference website at:credit-suisse.com/aic. Selected speeches and panels will be open to the media and for details, please refer to the separately distributed media program. A media invitation to register for these sessions will be issued separately. Kindly note that company presentations and panels (unless otherwise specified) are not open to the press.