Bulletin Spring‧Summer Autumn‧Winter 1999

The L i and Fung Lecture on US Trad e Policy Dr. C.F. Bergsten, director of the Institute for International Economics at Washington DC, gave a public lecture on US Trade Policy on 1st June at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre as the guest speaker of the L i and Fung Lecture organized by the MBA programmes of the University. Dr. Bergsten is also chairman of the Competitiveness Policy Council which advises the US President and Congress on issues pertaining to the competitiveness of the American economy. In his lecture entitled ' The Trade Policy of the United States towards East Asia and the World', Dr. Bergsten concluded that it was the United States who took the initiative to liberalize and globalize the world trading system in 1993. Congressional ratification of the NAFTA, the Seattle Summit, and the successful conclusion of the Uruguay round of negotiation in the GATT were all efforts in this direction. While there had been disputes with Japan and China in early 1994, by June trade negotiations with Japan had restarted, and President Clinton had decided to continue the Most Favoured Nation treatment for China and delink the trade and human rights issues. Dr. Bergsten believed that this policy to open markets through mutilateral, regional, and bilateral mechanisms would continue and that Asian countries would play a crucial role in future trade talks. He also hoped to see China rejoin the GATT very soon and contribute its share towards global trade liberalization. The L i and Fung Lecture Programme was first established in 1981 under the auspices of the MBA programmes and is sponsored by the L i and Fung Group of Companies. Visitors from University of Toronto and Yale High level delegations from the University of Toronto and Yale University visited CUHK to reaffirm existing academic ties and foster new linkages. Led by their president Prof. Robert Prichard, senior academics from the University of Toronto arrived in Hong Kong on 9th May and were warmly received by CUHK vice-chancellor Prof. Charles Kao. The two universities signed an agreement in 1992 to promote research collaboration and student exchange, and on this basis, a tripartite link has been established with the Commission of Science and Technology in China to facilitate biomedical research. The three parties will work together on such significant projects as the mega-sequencing of human cardiac DNA. Research results are likely to benefit pharmaceutical industries in the three places and bring improvement to their health systems. During their visit, representatives from the University of Toronto also discussed with senior officers of this university how academic exchange andjoint research could be expanded to cover areas of mutual interest. Four days later on 13th May, the president of Yale University, Prof. Richard Levin, visited the University to forge closer ties between Yale and CUHK. Cooperation between the two institutions can be traced back to the early sixties and the most recent example of such cooperation is the 10-year South China Studies Programme. In an address made in a lunch reception held in his honour, Prof. Levin disclosed plans for more joint projects in the pipeline: the Yale-CUHK summer piano institute in Hong Kong, collaboration between the art galleries of the Prof. Kao presents a souvenir to President Robert Prichard of the University of Toronto. News in Brief 32