Welcome to the web site of the Trilateral Commission. The Commission was originally created in 1973 to bring together experienced leaders within the private sector to discuss issues of global concern at a time when communication and cooperation between Europe, North America, and Asia were lacking. The Commission has grown since its early days to include members from more countries in these regions, and it continues to find that study and dialogue about the pressing problems facing our planet remain as important today as in 1973. Problems and threats have changed, but their importance has only increased due to the more interconnected and interdependent world in which we now live.

Although we are a small group, and meet only a few times each year, we see great value in a web site that offers scholars, researchers, and the general public access to our proceedings and the major reports submitted during our meetings. We also offer links to the writings of our membership and their individual views on issues of concern, and we provide some basic information about the Commission, its history, and activities.

We have begun to present short video interviews and other information connected to our meetings. The first video pieces relate to a panel discussion on the threat of drug cartels in the NAFTA zone held during the 2011 North American Regional Meeting in Toronto. To view them, just click on the names below: 
Paula Dobriansky, former U.S. under secretary of state for democracy and global affairs 
John Negroponte, former U.S. ambassador to Honduras and Mexico 
Jean Daudelin, assistant professor, Carleton University
Jorge Tello, former executive secretary of Mexico’s National Public Security System.

Also presented here is a compilation of essays on "Europe's Response to the Arab Awakening" which will be of interest to many of you. These essays were prepared by five European members of the Commission for the recent European Regional Meeting in The Hague. Click here to read their views of this significant turn in current affairs.

Mario Monti has resigned as European chairman of the Trilateral Commission after being elected president of the Italian Council of Ministers on November 16, 2011.  

Finally, it is with deep sadness that we announce that Tadashi Yamamoto, a founding member of the Commission and Pacific Asian Director, has died after a short illness. He expired peacefully on Sunday April 15, in the presence of family and staff. Funeral services were held on Wednesday, April 18. He is survived by his sons Taro, Jiro, Saburo, and Shiro; his four daughters-in-law; and eight grandchildren. Condolences may be sent to the Japan Center for International Exchange (JCIE), which he founded in 1970.

On July 5, 2011, Tadashi was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan and afterwards was granted an audience with Emperor Akihito at the Imperial Palace. To commemorate that occasion, Tadashi's staff at JCIE prepared this "small album" for him. With their permission, we would like to share that with you here.

Tadashi, as everyone knew him, will be sorely missed by the many partners and friends around the world who shared his vision of strengthening international ties. Georges Berthoin, European Honorary Chair of the Commission, has written that Tadashi "was at the avant-garde helping respectable traditions to adapt smoothly to future facts of life." And Henry Kissinger writes that Tadashi was "a cherished friend and astute analyst of world affairs and a trusted partner in building a new era of amity and cooperation in Japan-U.S. relations." Their full tributes to Tadashi can be viewed by clicking on the links below.

Tributes to Tadashi Yamamoto:
Georges Berthoin
Henry Kissinger

	Joseph S. Nye, Jr.	Yotaro Kobayashi
	North American Chair	Pacific Asian Chair