Two international conferences promoting academic exchanges on economic and trade-related issues will be held at City University of Hong Kong (CityU) between 16 and 19 May.

The first conference that opened on 16 May was the 2008 APJAE (Asia-Pacific Journal of Accounting and Economics) Symposium on Public Policies and Social Welfare, jointly organised by CityU's Department of Economics and Finance, the Research Centre for International Economics, and the College of Social Sciences, National Taiwan University.

Kicking-off the two-day conference was Professor Robin Boadway, from the Department of Economics of Queen's University, Canada, who delivered a keynote speech on "Pigouvian Taxation in a Ramsey World".

In the four subsequent panel sessions, speakers from Hong Kong, the mainland, Asia and around the world discuss a variety of topics relating to taxation, export policy and minimum wages.

The symposium demonstrates CityU's efforts in fostering international exchange among academics on economic and trade issues in the region and beyond.

In his welcoming remarks, Professor Eden Yu Siu-hung, Head of the Department of Economics and Finance and editor of APJAE, shared the good news with participants that the Faculty of Business of CityU was recently accredited by the Association of MBAs, its third accreditation in addition to AACSB and EQUIS.

He added that the APJAE, first launched in 1994 by CityU, is being expanded to accommodate the growing needs of researchers around the world. Part of this expansion includes the National Taiwan University's College of Social Sciences joining as a partner in publishing the journal.

The APJAE international forum is intended for theoretical and empirical research in all areas of economics, finance and accounting and the interaction of these three areas.

Another conference, the Hong Kong-Taipei-Tokyo Trade Conference, organised by the Department of Economics and Finance and the Research Centre for International Economics, will take place on 19 May. Professor Alan Woodland, from the Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Sydney, will deliver the keynote speech titled "Steepest Ascent Tariff Reform".

Discussion on different trade-related policies will follow among academics from Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan.