Review
HONG KONG APEC STUDY CENTRE
Director: Prof. Yeung Yue-man
The Institute had the opportunity to further extend its links with the Hong Kong community and the region when it was designated as the host of the Hong Kong APEC (Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation) Study Centre by the Vice-Chancellor of the University at the request of the Hong Kong government's Education and Manpower Bureau.
Various research programmes of the Institute have shown great interest in supporting the establishment of the Hong Kong APEC SC under the auspices of the HKIAPS. Staff of the Institute had already worked, prior to the establishment of the SC, on project dealing with APEC topics or on consultation committees for the Hong Kong government or other agencies as regards such affairs on a regular or ad hoc basis:
Prof. Sung Yun-wing, co-Director of the Hong Kong and Asia-Pacific Economies (research) Programme, has been a member of an APEC consultative committee for the Trade Department;
Prof. Sung Yun-wing and Dr Maurice Brosseau, of the Institute, joined in August 1999 at the New Zealand Consulate with other experts to discuss the upcoming APEC Head of State meeting, etc.
The HK APEC Study Centre has undertaken the responsibility of providing important Hong Kong Public Libraries with key documents resulting of activities engaged into by major APEC agencies.
The HK APEC
Study Centre has already posted its "homepage" under the
An international conference, entitled "Gendered Mobilities in Asia," was jointly organized by HKIAPS's Gender Research Programme and the International Geographical Union's Gender and Geography Commission (25-26 November 1999). This conference was in part sponsored by the International Social Science Council of the UNESCO and other renowned academic institutions. The conference delved on several topics that have been the focus of attention of the Human Resources Development Working Groups within APEC.
The Gender Research Programme obtained the financial support of the Hong Kong APEC Study Centre for a research project "to compile data on what government and the Equal Opportunities Commission had achieved since the Beijing Platform for Action in 1995 (Fourth World Conference on Women) as well as to collect data on the statistical trends of the status of women in Hong Kong." The findings were presented to a "Beijing Plus Five Workshop" held in February 2000.
The Hong Kong APEC Study Centre assisted the Institute with the tenth anniversary celebration of the Institute, as they jointly organized an international conference, "Into the 21st Century: Challenges for Hong Kong and the Asia Pacific Region," held in mid-April. Renowned scholars from Hong Kong and other parts of the world gathered to exchange on recent development and the prospects for the near future. The most directly APEC-related papers were the following:
Prof. Frederic C. Deyo (The University of Oakland, New Zealand), "The 'New Developmentalism' in Post-crisis Asia: The Case of Thailand's SME Sector;"
Prof. Henry Wai-chung Yeung (National University of Singapore), "Business as Usual? Changing Business Networks in Pacific Asia in a Globalizing Era."
Prof. Emma Porio (Ateneo de Manila University, Philippines), "Society and Civil Society in Asia and the Pacific."
Dr Andrew Elek (Australian National University), "APEC's Prospects as an International Organization."
Prof. Yeung Yue-man (Director of HKIAPS and Hong Kong APEC Study Centre), "Asia-Pacific Urbanism under Globalization."
In addition, a full session of the conference was consecrated to APEC questions in a panel discussion, titled "APEC Update," chaired by Prof. Yeung Yue-man and involving as panelists: Mr Joshua Chi-kong Law, Director-General of the Trade Department of the Hong Kong government; Prof. Jose V. Abueva (University of the Philippines); and Dr Andrew Elek (Australian National University).
