Seminar “Hong Kong Professional Services and the Belt and Road Initiative — Envisaging sustainable policy development for the future”
Monday 24 April 2023, 15:00-17:00
Congratulations to Prof. Phyllis Mo (Department of Accountancy) on "Hong Kong Professional Services and the Belt and Road Initiative - Challenges for Co-evolving Sustainability" co-edited with Prof. Linda Li (Department of Public and International Affairs), and published by Routledge in March 2023.
This book is one of the deliverables of a Strategic Public Policy Research project on Hong Kong Professional Services and the BRI, led by Prof. Linda Li, with contributors from the Department of Public and International Affairs, the School of Law, and the College of Business. The project team was the first and only academic team from Hong Kong joining the 2017 first BRI Summit meetings in Beijing, and its ideas contributed to the formative reports on the GBA blue print when the State Council was formulating its GBA policy in 2017. Leveraging on members’ expertise in law, business, management as well as public policy and politics, and engaging with stakeholders in government and business in multiple jurisdictions, this work is illustrative of multidisciplinary and cross-sectoral collaboration. An action research approach was also employed, in addition to traditional academic methods, to enable contributions to the ongoing policy discussions in real time.
To mark the publication of the book, a seminar “Hong Kong Professional Services and the Belt and Road Initiative — Envisaging sustainable policy development for the future” will be held on Monday 24 April 2023, 15:00-17:00 at the Multi-Purpose Rooms (8-210, 8-220 & 8-230), Lau Ming Wai Academic Building, City University of Hong Kong.
The Speaker will be Prof. Linda Li, and the Panel discussion will include Prof. Phyllis Mo, Prof. Feng Lin (School of Law), Prof. Jerry Zhang (College of Business), Nicholas Ho (chairman of Hong Kong architectural practice HPA, business representative), with moderators: Prof. Linda Li and William Tsang (Asst Head of Chief Executive's Policy Unit).
All welcome!
About the book
“Hong Kong Professional Services and the Belt and Road” Initiative scrutinizes the role of Hong Kong in the expansive, and contested, vision of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). In two main parts, it first discusses the defining features of the BRI and the evolving expectations of the role of Hong Kong in the BRI from the perspectives of policy makers and the professional sectors of accountancy-finance and the law. The second part contemplates the potential opportunities for Hong Kong from the perspectives of recipient countries-Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Cambodia and Myanmar. Utilizing an action research approach and engaging the views of a broad spectrum of actors, the authors observe the critical role of agency and innovations in a context of institutional contradictions, the impact of BRI governance structure for the deficits in international participation, gaps between grand state visions and commercial interests, and the salience of effective communication in navigating complex policy initiatives. Taking these together unpacks the complex processes shaping Hong Kong’s participation and role in the BRI.
This book will appeal to students and researchers interested in the BRI and Hong Kong, in the contexts of institutional contradictions, agency innovations, and political dynamics, as well as sustainable development.