Activities

Annual Plenary Meeting

The Annual Plenary Meeting is the Trilateral Commission’s most important official gathering, bringing together members from North America, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific once each year.

The location rotates among the three regions, and the program reflects the perspectives and priorities of the host region. During the meeting, members engage in intensive discussions on major international issues, including geopolitics, the international economy, security, technological innovation, energy, and climate change.

Sessions are typically organized in panel or dialogue formats, allowing diverse perspectives from the three regions to be shared. The Annual Plenary Meeting serves not only to deepen trilateral dialogue but also to reaffirm trust among members and to share perspectives on the future direction of the Commission’s activities.

Regional Meetings

Regional Meetings are official gatherings held within each of the Commission’s three regions: North America, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific. Members from each region take the lead in discussing current regional developments and policy challenges.

While the Annual Plenary Meeting brings together members from all three regions, Regional Meetings focus more specifically on regional developments and policy issues. These meetings provide opportunities to analyze regional trends in greater depth, while their discussions also contribute to the broader trilateral dialogue.

Regional Meetings play an important role in sustaining continuous policy dialogue and in connecting regional perspectives to international discussions.

David Rockefeller Fellows (DRF)

The David Rockefeller Fellows (DRF) program was established to promote the participation of next-generation leaders in the work of the Trilateral Commission.

Mid-career leaders expected to contribute to future international policy debates are selected from each region. Fellows come from a wide range of fields, including politics, economics, business, academia, and media, and participate in both Annual Plenary Meetings and Regional Meetings over a three-year term.

Through dialogue and exchange with Commission members and other fellows, they broaden their international perspectives and develop networks that transcend regional boundaries. The program also serves as an important mechanism for intellectual continuity and intergenerational exchange within the Commission.

Global Members

Compared with the time of the Commission’s founding, the international landscape has changed significantly, and challenges related to politics, economics, and security now extend far beyond the original three regions.

In response to these changes, the need to broaden the Commission’s discussions to include new regions and perspectives became increasingly clear. Against this background, the category of Global Members was established in 2017.

Global Members are high-level leaders selected from countries outside the Commission’s three core regions, and they participate in both Regional Meetings and Annual Plenary Meetings. This initiative expands the scope of dialogue, making it more inclusive and multidimensional while strengthening the Commission’s capacity to respond to an evolving international order.