TRAN VAN HOA
B.Ec (Hons), M.Ec., Ph.D.
Research
Professor, Centre for Strategic Economic Studies,
Director,
Phone: 613 9919 1047, Fax: 613 9919 1350, Email:
jimmy.tran@vu.edu.au
Honorary
Professor, National Economics University, Hanoi, Vietnam
Honorary Professor, National Advanced
Training Institute (NATI), Ministry of Trade, Vietnam
INTERNATIONAL
LISTING
|
Who's Who in the World |
Who's Who in Science and Engineering |
|
Who's
Who in |
2000 Outstanding People of the 20th Century |
|
Who's
Who in |
1000 Great Intellectuals of the 21st Century |
|
Dictionary of International Biography |
Australian Who's Who |
|
Living
Legends |
Australian
Directory of Professors |
INTERNATIONAL
AWARD & RECOGNITION
Association of the Korean Economic
Studies (AKES) 2004 Best Paper Prize for the article Tran Van Hoa (2004),"Korea’s
Trade, Growth of Trade and the World Economy in Post-crisis ASEAN+3 Free Trade
Agreement: An Econometric and Policy Analysis", Journal of the Korean Economy, Vol. 5,
No. 2, pp. 73-108.
For Tran Van Hoa's Recent
Profile in Vietnamese
please click the site below:
Article profiled in Vietnam's Nhan Dan
or (if the above has been moved)
Go to last page of this website
BUSINESS AND CONSULTING EXPERIENCE
|
|
|
|
NSW |
|
|
|
AusAID |
|
Ministry of Commerce ( |
Ministry of Trade ( |
|
Ford Foundation ( |
ACIL-Cardno Australlia |
|
United Nations UNESCAP |
International
Consultants Centre ICC, Melbourne |
|
|
United Nations Development Program ( |
AREAS OF
TEACHING
|
|
International Finance |
|
Applied and Theoretical Econometrics |
Econometric Modelling and Forecasts |
|
Business Economics in |
Energy Economics |
|
Competition Policy in Asian Economies |
Trade and Investment in |
AREAS OF
RESEARCH
|
|
Development Economics and Growth |
|
Economic Modelling |
Business Forecasting |
|
Business and Public Policy |
ASEAN Economies and its Enlargement
(East Asia |
|
International Business and Trade |
Welfare Economics |
|
Energy Economics |
Consumer Demand Studies |
|
Econometric Theory and Analysis |
International Finance |
|
Production Studies |
Competition Policy in Asian Economies |
|
New Asian Regionalism |
Transition Economies in |
|
Asian Free Trade Agreements and WTO |
Household Production and Economics |
RECENT
BOOKS ON ASIAN ECONOMIES
by TRAN VAN HOA
1 Tran Van Hoa (ed) (1997), Economic Development and Prospects in the
ASEAN: Foreign Investment and Growth in
3
Tran Van Hoa (with C Harvie) (1997),
4
Tran Van Hoa (ed)
(1999), Sectoral Analysis of Trade, Investment and Business in
5
Tran Van Hoa and C. Harvie (eds)
(2000), Causes and Impact of the Asian Financial Crisis,
6
Tran Van Hoa (ed) (2000), Prospects
for Trade, Investment and Business in
7
Tran Van Hoa (ed) (2000), The Asia
Crisis: The Cures, Their Effectiveness and The Prospects After,
8
9
Tran Van Hoa, (2000) The Social
Impact of the Asia Crisis,
10 Tran Van Hoa (2000),
11 Tran Van Hoa (2001), The Asia Recovery,
12 Tran Van Hoa (2002), Economic
Crisis Management,
13 Tran Van Hoa (2003),
Competition Policy in Major Asian Economies,
14 Tran Van Hoa and C. Harvie
(2003), New Asian Regionalism: Responses to Globalisation and Crises,
Elgar.
15 Tran Van Hoa (with C Harvie),
The Economic Development in Transition Economies,
16 Tran Van Hoa, P Q Thao, V T
Dung and L H An (2004), Competition Law and Policy in
Major Economies in Asia and
(in Vietnamese),
NATI, Ministry of Trade,
17 Tran Van Hoa (2005), Household
Production. Consumer Behaviour and Economic
Policy,
18 Tran Van Hoa and N V Lich
(2006), ASEAN+3 and Its Impact on
House,
19 Tran Van Hoa and N V Lich
(2007), Business Opportunities in
20 Tran Van Hoa and N V Lich
(2007), WTO Impact on Regional
21 Tran Van Hoa and C Harvie
(2008), Regional Trade Agreements in Asia,
RECENT WORK & ACTIVITIES
CORRUPTION
AND ANTI-CORRUPTION POLICY IN
Tran Van Hoa attended the International Conference on
Evidenced-based Anti-corruption Policy in
Eminent speakers included Mr Abhisit Vejjajiva (Prime
Minister of Thailand), Mr Panthep Klanarongran (NACC President), Justice Fabio
De Pasquale (Chief Prosecutor, Ministry of Justice, Italy), Ms Annnette
Dixon (Country Director, World bank, Thailand), Dr Richard Messick (World Bank,
Washington D.C, USA), Dr Jean-Pierre Verbiest (Country Director, Asian Development
Bank, Thailand), Dr Juree Vichit-Vadakam (Director, Transparency
International, Thailand), internationally notable and distinguished
academics and business cummunity, and Commissioners from the national
anti-corruption commission agencies from major countries in the Asian region.
These agencies include the NACC (
As a true
international venue for scholarly and practical policy information, discussion
and debate on what is often known as the dark side of humanity and its activities
driven essentially by personal greed and interest at all three levels of government or state, corporate and individual
governance or management, the conference attracted a very wide range of papers
and speakers covering important theoretical abstract and practical policy
topics of interest to both rich and developed as well as poor and developing
economies alike. These topics include (1) How to Prosecute High-Level Politicians, (2) Variety of
Corruption and Its Changing Face, (3) Methodological Conflict in Corruption
Perspective and Activities, (4) Corruption as a Catalyst of Human Rights Violation in
Civil Societies, (5) United Nations Convention Against Corruption 2003, (6) Business-based
and Ethics-based Government Governance and Corruption, (7) Evaluation of
Corruption Indicators, (8) Corruption and Anti-corruption Policy in
Semi-authoritarian as well as Democratic Countries, (9) Can Income and
Assets Declarations by Politicians Minimise Corruption?, (10) Uses of IT To
Reduce Corruption, (11) Corruption and Integrity in the Agricultural Sector, (12) the Myth of the
Low Development and High Corruption Nexus Perception on Asia, (13) Government and
Corporate Resistance to Anti-corruption Policy, and (14) the Role of
Anti-corruption Agencies in Major Developing Countries in Asia. The Conference
papers will be uploaded on the NACC website for wider dissemination. Some
papers may be published in the NACC Journal after a
peer-review process.
In the photo below taken at the conference are, from
left to right, (first) Prof Medhi Krongkaew (Commissioner,
In the photo below
taken at the NACC Conference Dinner at Siam City Hotel are, from left to right,
Ms Annette Dixon (Country Director, World Bank, Thailand), Prof Sirilaksana
Khoman, Mr Larry Lam (Managing Director, McGuire Asia Pte Ltd, Singapore),
and Prof Tran Van Hoa (Director, Vietnam and East Asia Summit Research
Program, Centre for Strategic Economic Studies, Victoria University, Melbourne,
Australia).
ASIAN
COMMUNITY: FINANCIAL CRISIS AND ECONOMIC INTEGRATION IN
21 March 2009,
Tran Van Hoa attended the international
symposium on financial crisis and economic integration in East Asia taking place at
In the photo below taken at the symposium reception
dinner at the Central Hotel in Shanghai are, from left to right, Prof Junfang
Xi (3rd, standing), Prof Tran Van Hoa (4th, Director,
Vietnam and East Asia Summit Research Program, Centre for Strategic Economic
Studies, Victoria University, Australia), and Prof Akira Takamasu (7th,
Kansai University and Asian Community Research Center, Osaka Sangyo University,
Japan).
GROWING
AUSTRALIA-VIETNAM TRADE RELATIONS INSPITE OF GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISES
Marriott Hotel,
Tran Van Hoa attended on 6 March 2009 the workshop and
ambassadorial reception at the Marriott Hotel in Melbourne to discuss the Ministry of
Industry and Trade (MOIT) report on the WTO and Australia-Vietnam Trade
Relations and to exchange ideas on ways and means to improve these relations. The
event was hosted by the
In the photo below taken at the Marriott Hotel are,
from left to right, Ms Nguyen Quynh Anh (1st place) , Europe Market Department,
MOIT; Prof Tran Van Hoa (4th); H.E. Nguyen Thanh Tan (5th),
Vietnam Ambassador to Australia; Mr Vu Van Quang (6th),
Deputy Director-General, Europe Market Department, MOIT; and Mr Nguyen Van Chi
(10th), Commercial Consul, Vietnam Trade Office in Sydney,
Australia.
PROMOTING
EAST & WEST
2-7 November 2008
Universities of Sistan &
Baluchestan,
During
the first week of November 2008, Tran Van Hoa participated in a series of APEF (Asia-Pacific Economic Forum) VII conferences at
three well-known universities in
The local organisers involved in the preparation of the
APEF VII conference are Prof Seyed Komail Tayebi of the University of Isfahan
and Dr Mosayeb Pahlavani of the University of Sistan & Baluchestan in
Zahedan, and numerous pan-university and
institution associates. As a significant recognition of the importance of the
conference and its theme in the East and
More
than 1300 senior government officials, business
people, university staff and students attended the Opening Ceremony and Keynote
Speeches of the APEF VII conference at the University Sistan & Baluchestan in Zahedan. Experts from over 10 countries in Asia, India, Iran, other Middle East countries,
Oceania and the European Union participated to deliver 38 selected research
papers (out of a total of 100 papers submitted for presentation) covering a
wide range of topics on trade, economics, finance, technology and management in
East and West Asia, and the impact of
the current global financial crisis. Prof Tran Van Hoa delivered his keynote speech emphasizing the
opportunities and challenges of deepening East and
A
prominent session of the APEF VII conferences at the University of Sistan &
Baluchestan and the University of Isfahan was a Roundtable where
keynote speakers and the audience participated in discussions on major
contemporary issues of interest to future policy in East and West Asia. The
issues raised at the session included energy supply, demand and prices, the
importance of small and medium-size enterprises, the current interest by
academic and institutional experts and policy-makers on the architecture of
regional trade agreements in the Asia-Pacific region, and most importantly, the
impact of the US subprime or global
financial crisis (GFC) on both developed and developing economies world-wide. In his discussions, Prof Tran Van Hoa stated that it
is too early to assess the wide-spread and deep
damages of GFC, but he gave
an overall evidence-based picture of the potential economic, financial,
ideological and political damages of the GFC in all big and small economies
which many times surpass the decades-long gains from trade liberalisation and
growth, and reform. He also pointed out fortunately that good and appropriate
policy can attenuate these damages and spur future development and growth, and
recommended regional and global co-operation in finding appropriate solutions
on these. In his discussions, Prof Peter Lloyd, of the Grubel-Lloyd Intra-trade
Index fame, also concurred that a rethink of laisser-faire or extreme capitalism as a model of modern economic management policy with
government support may be necessary. Prof Ahmad Akbari emphasised the effects
of the GFC on economic slowdown
and oil revenue of the OPEC and
their contagion to other sectors of the economy (eg, education in
The photo
below records a Roundtable
session at the
In the two photos below
taken at the Opening Ceremony and Keynote Speeches in the Ferdowsi Hall on
campus at the University of Sistan & Baluchestan in Zahedan are some of the
1300 VIP guests and participants.
Some Key
Speakers at the APEF VII conference in Zahedan (photo below). From left to
right, sitting, Prof Ahmad Akbari; Prof Peter Lloyd; Prof Tran Van Hoa; and
Prof Hyun-Hoon Lee, Dean of Asia-Pacific Academy and an APEF Founding Member,
Kangwon National University, Korea.
In the
photo below taken at the Office of the Vice-Chancellor, University of Isfahan,
are, from left to right, Prof Charles Harvie; Prof Komail Tayebi, University of
Isfahan and APEF Local Chair; Prof Tran Van Hoa; Prof Hossein Harsij,
Vice-Chancellor, University of Isfahan; Prof Peter Lloyd; and Dr Nazende
Ozkaramete Coskun, Bikent University, Turkey.
The photo below
shows some of the audience at the APEF VII conference taking place at the
ECONOMIC,
TRADE AND POLITICAL ISSUES, AND PRIORITY
25-30 September 2008,
Tran Van Hoa participated recently in three
important high-level academic and policy meetings in
In the photo below taken in the historic
North Hall, Allahabad University, at the end of the Valedictory Session are
some keynote speakers at the conference (from left to right front row, Prof Alka Agarwal, Chair and AU Council Member, Department of Economics, Allahabad University; Prof Tran Van Hoa; Prof Rajen Harshe, Vice-Chancellor, Allahabad
University; Chief Justice (retired) Shri Prakash).
And some of the participants at the
conference during the keynote address by Tran Van Hoa.
Prof Tran Van Hoa also participated in a high-level policy RIS-ADB conference Emerging
Asian Regionalism: ASEAN-India FTA and Beyond, taking place on 29 Sept 2008 at the Viceregal, Claridge Hotel, New
Delhi, to present his key panel address on India and the ASEAN. The conference was jointly organised by RIS (Research and Information
System for Developing Economies, India’s government-funded top
think-tank) and the ADB (Asian Development Bank) and attended by H E Dr Jairam Ramesh, Minister of State
for Commerce and Power, Dr M Kawai, Dean, ADB Institute in Tokyo, India's elite
government officials and academics, and international embassy and business
representatives. In his
address, Tran Van Hoa gave an account of the recent past record of
India-ASEAN-World economic and trade relations, and, using the recent findings
based on his endogenous gravity theory, explored
these relations’ opportunities, obstacles, and prospects within the
framework of a plurilateral India-ASEAN FTA, and the East Asia Summit FTA as
proposed currently by the 16 EAS leaders. At the conference, the ADB launched its new publication Emerging Asian Regionalism: A
Partnership for Shared Prosperity, in which some aspects of integration of production, trade, financial
markets, and FDI in the ASEAN Plus were particularly paid attention to. The
conference was widely reported by the media.
In the photos below taken at the Viceregal
Hall, Claridge Hotel, in New Delhi, during the RIS-ADB conference are some keynote
speakers (Dr Rajesh Kumar, Director-General,
RIS; Dr M Kawai, Dean, ADB Institute; Dr Srinivasa Madhur, Director, OREI, ADB).
And some of the participants.
In New Delhi, Professor Tran Van Hoa also gave a seminar on 30 Sept
2008 to staff and postgraduate students of the Centre
for International Trade and Development of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (India’s top university) to talk about the development of his endogenous
gravity theory and its applications to India’s and ASEAN’s economic
and trade issues particularly in a present climate of energy and financial
crises, and to offer possible solutions. The visit to the JNU was organised by Prof B B Bhattacharya, JNU Vice-Chancellor and a noted
economist and adviser to
In the photo below taken at the JNU seminar
are, front row, Prof Tran Van Hoa
and Prof Geeta Agarwal (Chairperson, CITD), and some postgraduate students.
20-21 June 2008
Korea Institute of
Public Finance,
Tran Van Hoa
attended the Korea and the World
Economy Conference VII in Korea during
20-21 June 2008 to deliver his research paper on the currently proposed Australia-Korea Free Trade Agreement, and to discuss papers at a plenary session on Official Development Assistance - Korea and the
Developing Countries. The conference (in the
series established at
In the
photo below at the farewell function at the Santorini in Chunchoen are (from
left to right) Prof Huyn-Hoon Lee (Dean,
Asia-Pacific Co-operation Academy, Kangwon National University; local organiser), Prof Chung-Moo Koo (President, AKES; local
organiser), Dr Bongkee Hahn (Vice Governor,
Gangwon Provincial Government), Prof
Sven W Arndt (Claremont McKenna College,
USA), and Prof Tran Van Hoa.
INNOVATION
& TECHNOLOGY IN
POLICY
MODELLING TRAINING FOR ACADEMICS AND GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS
2 May
2008,
While the
role of econometric modelling for policy analysis (using say the methods of growth regression, panel regression, structural equation
modelling, and CGE/GTAP) has been
recognised and used in most developed and Western countries world-wide, an
appropriate modelling methodology with more credible or realistic outcomes for
use by corporate and government policy-makers in both developed and developing
countries alike is still to be developed. A new development with improved
features and outcomes in this field is the Generalised Gravity Theory proposed in 2002 and used successfully
since by Tran Van Hoa (eg, see the Journal of the Korean Economy, 2004) in many practical applications on economic, trade, FDI and service
studies in Asian economies (eg, China,
India, Japan, Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam) in recent years. This advanced
modelling tool has now been officially adopted by the Government of
In the photo below
taken at the training course are Prof Tran Van Hoa (second from left) and some
participants.
INNOVATION
AND TECHNOLOGY
AND THEIR
IMPACT IN DEVELOPING ECONOMIES
21-23
April 2008, United
Tran Van
Hoa attended the Second Conference of Micro Evidence on Innovation in Developing
Economies (MEIDE), on 21-23 April, 2008, at the Renmin University of China in
Beijing,
to deliver a paper on the Impact of Innovation &Technology Public
Expenditure on Development in China and India: An International Comparative
Study, and to chair a session. The Conference was jointly organised by the
In the photo below
taken at the end of the conference and in front of the Run Run Shaw Conference
Centre at
BASIC
PUBLIC SERVICES EQUALISATION IN
AN
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
China Institute for Reform and
Development (CIRD), 22-23 Feb 2008,
Tran Van Hoa was
invited to attend the international conference Basic Public Services for 1.3 Billion People during 22-23 Feb 2008 in Haikou to present his paper on China's Education and Development and Its Comparative Efficiency
Competitiveness with one of China's major economic and trade rivals in the
region, India. The conference was
organised by one of China's think-tanks, the China Institute for Reform and Development (CIRD), and with the collaboration of China International Centre for Economic and Technical Exchanges (CICETE)
and the United Nations Development Program (China). A wide range of 'hot' topics on major aspects of public services in
China, covering education, health care, rural and regional development,
urban-rural gaps, legal foundation, tax reform, and social security, were
discussed and debated by more than 250
senior academics and government officials (including two Vice Ministers) from
all over China and 17 international experts (eg, from Australia, France,
Sweden, the UK), UNDP Resident Representative and Senior Economist. The conference proceedings were nationally televised and reported by 21 mass media networks. In his paper and discussions, Prof Tran Van Hoa emphasised the
importance of not only public services input and capacity equalisation but,
more significantly, their outcomes and efficiency evaluation (a new policy
research direction mentioned at the conference by the UNDP (China) Representative, Mr Khalid Malik, and
endorsed by Vice-Minster of National Population and Family Planning Commission,
Dr Zhao Baige), and the relevance of regional competitiveness
(in this case, India's education and health care) in a globalised economy where
China is playing an increasingly influential role.
In the
photo below taken at the
Two photos showing some of the national and
international participants at the Conference.
IN MINISTERIAL TRADE POLICY
RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT AND MANAGEMENT
8-20 December 2007, Ministry
of Industry and Trade (MOIT),
Prof Tran Van Hoa of the Centre
for Strategic Economic Studies (CSES), Faculty of Business & Law, Victoria University,
led, during 8-20 December 2007, a number of Australian Research Council-funded workshops in major cities and provinces of Vietnam to
present his work with the Vietnam Institute for Trade (VIT), Ministry of
Industry and Trade (MOIT), on implementing improvements in economic and trade
policy in the country. The workshops were
organised by VIT (an Industry Partner in a 2004-2007 ARC Linkage Project) on
Australia-Vietnam Trade, co-managed by VIT
Director-General, Prof Dr Nguyen Van Lich), and endorsed by H.E. Nguyen Van Linh,
Vietnam Vice-Minister of Trade.
The workshops were attended by senior
university and trade college executives and academics, senior government
officials, and select postgraduate students. The work involves the implementation
of a new modelling policy approach, the so-called generalised gravity theory (GGT) introduced by Tran
Van Hoa in 2002, that provides significant improvements in modelling outcomes
and policy credibility and reliability to existing and popular approaches that are currently used in this field
by national and international institutions (e.g., universities and research
institutes) and organisations (e.g., the World Trade Organisation, the
International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank). A description of the GGT is given in an award-winning article in 2004 in
the Journal of the Korean Economy, published by
At the workshops, the
participants were introduced to the work's preliminary research and findings,
and informed of MOIT decision to adopt the GGT methodology for economic and
trade analysis and implementation at the practical and operational level by the
Ministry. The decision is highly
significant for global government governance in the sense of how relevant and
quality government policy background support in
In the photo below taken at
the meeting at the MOIT Headquarter in Hanoi on 20 December 2007 are H.E.
Nguyen Van Linh, Vice-Minister of Trade (on the left), and Prof Tran Van Hoa.
A record photo of the ARC-VIT
workshop at the VIT Headquarter in
A record photo of the ARC-VIT
workshop at
A record photo of the ARC-VIT
workshop at the College of Foreign Economic Relations, MOIT and Ministry of
Education and Training, Ho Chi Minh City, Southern Vietnam: Prof Tran Van Hoa
(left), and College Rector, Prof Dr Pham Chau Thanh (second from left), and
College academics and government participants.
A record photo of the ARC-VIT
workshop at the Provincial Office of Trade and Tourism, MOIT, Da Lat, Highland
A record photo of the ARC-VIT
workshop at
and
FOR TWO GIANTS IN
25-27 October 2007,
Tran Van Hoa attended the
90th Indian Economic Association Conference
at Kashmir University in India on 25-27 October 2007 to present his recent research findings on China-India trade relations and their impact on
India's growth, 'Look East' policy, economic diplomacy and regional cooperation. Since its devastating balance of payments crisis in
the early 1990s,
In the photo below taken on
campus in the Science Block at Kashmir University are, from left to right, Prof G K Chadha (Member of the
Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, and former Vice-Chancellor,
Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi), Prof
Tran Van Hoa, and Prof B B Bhattacharya
(Vice-Chancellor, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi, and 2007 President,
Indian Economic Association)
The photo
below taken at the Opening Ceremony at the
Convocation Complex at
rEGIONAL ECONOMIC INTEGRATION IN
Issues in
31 July 2007,
While regional economic
integration has been strongly supported by the governments in the ASEAN Plus
region to promote trade, economic growth, poverty reduction and co-operation, major issues such as trade, investment and services in
a bilateral framework between China and Vietnam for example in an AFTA Plus scheme have not been adequately studied in
detail or reported at both the academic and policy level. These issues were
taken up by VIT and other ministries and academic and research institutions in
In the photo below taken at
the workshop are, from left to right, Prof Dr Nguyen Van Lich
(Director-General, VIT, and ARC Linkage Industry Partner), Dr Nguyen Manh Hung (Prime Minister Office), Ho Trung Thanh (standing, ARC
Linkage Project Manager, VIT), Prof Dr
Nguyen Van Thanh (Vice
Director-General, VIT), H E Le Van Dinh (Vice Minister, MOT), Prof Tran Van Hoa (ARC Linkage
Chief Investigator and Director, Vietnam and ASEAN Plus Research Program,
Victoria University, Australia), Prof Dr Nguyen Mai (hidden,
Ministry of Science and Environment), and Prof Dr Nguyen Van Huong (former
President, National Economics University, Hanoi).
In the photo below are
some of the participants including the media representatives at the workshop.
Issues in a Korea-Australia
FTA and Regional ODA
2-3 July 2007,
Tran Van Hoa attended the Korea and The World Economy International Conference
VI: Towards Asian Economic Community at
the University of Wollongong, NSW, Australia, on 2-3 July 2007, to present a
paper on Official Development
Assistance (ODA) Effectiveness in Asia.
Since the current debates on ODA effectiveness or ineffectiveness have been
based on aspects of political economy or methodologies that have been regarded
as simple or inadequate, the paper provides a new and suitable modelling
approach and substantive empirical findings to improve the quality of the
debates. The issue is important as in 2005, ODA reached $US107 billion and
current and former senior World Bank experts and consultants (eg, Sachs and
Easterly) working on the area are not sure about the ODA benefits and the
effectiveness of ODA modus operandi. The Korea and The World Conference series,
organised principally by Korea's largest economics association, the Association of the Korean Economic Studies (AKES), started in Korea in 2001 by a group of international academic
economists, trade experts and government officials to research on major issues
in Korea and their implications and relations to the rest of the world. About
50 people from 17 countries around the world participated in the Conference
which also attracted local and national media. Major issues in the currently
negotiated Korea-Australia FTA were also a major topic at the Conference.
In the photo below (Tran Van
Hoa, second from right) taken at the foyer of the Communications Centre at
Wollongong University before the Conference are AKES Council Members, key
participants and local and AKES organisers.
Eminent participants at the Korea and The
World Conference VI include H E Mr Chang-Boem Cho, Korea
Ambassador to Australia (right, photo at the Novotel below) and Prof
Robert Castle, Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Wollongong University, left), and Prof
Tran Van Hoa.
The photo below taken in front of the
MacKinnon (a former Vice-Chancellor at Wollongong University) Building after
the farewell lunch at the Food Re-Thought restaurant at Wollongong University
shows some of the participants.
WHAT ARE NEW IN THE
ASIA-PACIFIC REGION?
30 June-1
July 2007,
While in Wollongong, Tran Van Hoa also
attended, as an Executive Member and speaker, the Asia-Pacific Economic Forum (APEF) International
Conference VI, with the theme Asian Regionalism: Issues, Opportunities, Challenges
and Outcomes, where he presented a paper on International Economic Integration in Asia: AFTA and
WTO Memberships. The paper is acutely
relevant to the current development in the Asia-Pacific and Oceania regions
where, with the suspension of the WTO Doha Round negotiations in SARS Hong Kong
in 2006, free trade agreements among neighbouring countries have been strongly
promoted by major countries for mutual benefits. APEF is a
new economics association founded in Chuncheon,
In the photo below taken
at
Business and Investment in
21-23 May 2007, Vietnam
Institute for Trade, Ministry of Trade,
With its WTO membership on 11 January
2007 after over 12 years of tortuous negotiations, Vietnam is set to integrate
more boldly and more competitively into the world market to increase its shares
of exports and FDI, to enhance its sustainable growth, and to strengthen its
external economic relations. This 150th
WTO membership also projects
ISSUES IN AUSTRALIA-KOREA
RELATIONS AND FTA
26 March 2007, Myer Asia
Institute,
Tran Van Hoa attended a meeting
with H E Chang Beom Cho, Korea Ambassador to Australia, at a
get-to-know event organised by the Asialink
network of the Myer Asia Institute,
The photo below taken at
the Myer Asia Institute boardroom are Prof Tran Van Hoa and H
Australia-China
Free Trade Agreement:
Issues in
Regional Development and Substantive Policy Support
17-18
March 2007. Renmin
Prof Tran Van Hoa attended the international
conference on Australia-China Free Trade Agreement: Regional Development Issues
and Modelling Policy taking place in Beijing on
17-18 March 2007 to deliver a keynote address (Title:
AFTA and WTO Memberships: Challenges, Opportunities and Choice) on the
progress, outcomes and benefits of regional trade agreements in Asia (such as
the ACFTA) and the actual substantive gains (or a lack of them) from WTO
memberships. The conference was sponsored
by AusAID-ISSS, the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT),
and supported and locally organised by three Beijing universities: the Renmin
University of China (RUC), the Central University of Finance and Economics
(CUFE), and the Capital University of Economics and Business (CUEB). The
Centre for Strategic Economic Studies (CSES) at
More than 40 trade, economic,
population and agricultural academics and government officials from Australia,
India, Vietnam, Beijing universities and a number of north-west and north-east
provincial universities in China participated in the
conference. A wide range of research work and findings by these experts on
In the photo below taken at
the ACFTA Conference are, from left to right and sitting, Dr Bui
Anh Tuan (Institute of World Economy, Vietnam), Dr Pham
Lan Huong (Deputy Head, Economic Integration
Department, Ministry of Planning and Investment, Vietnam), Prof
Charles Harvie (Director, SME Research Centre, University
of Wollongong, Australia), Prof Tran Van Hoa
(Director, Vietnam and ASEAN Plus Research Program, Victoria University,
Melbourne, Australia), Prof
While in
WTO and ASEAN FTA: Expectations
and Outcomes
4-5
December 2006, NATI, Ministry of Trade,
The aspirations of many
countries in the world to be members of the WTO (an
off-shoot of GATT, GATS, TRIMS, TRIPS and with recent added-on income equality
and poverty alleviation), to make sometimes painful and
long-negotiated commitments and to carry out 'hard' reforms are well-known
especially for developing countries in
Prof Tran Van Hoa recently
attended the 2006 Asian Forum on Business Education
(AFBE, based in Thailand) organised by the National Advanced
Training Institute (NATI), Vietnam Ministry of Trade, in Hanoi, to deliver a
keynote speech in which he presented some
new international substantive evidence on these gains and outcomes for Asian
economies (Andrew Rose in his 2004 American Economic
Review paper reported similar evidence for other countries).
This evidence shows pure and simple that an AFTA membership (which is not beset
by
In the photo taken at the opening of
the 2006 AFBE conference at the NATI Conference Centre are, from left to right,
Assoc Prof Dr Pham Quang Thao (NATI Rector and Local Organiser); HE Vice
Minister of Trade, Mr Tran Duc Minh; Prof Dr Brian Sheehan (President, AFBE);
Dr. Wahdi Salasi April Yuhdi (Deputy Director, The Southeast Asian Ministers of
Education Organization (SAMEO)); and Prof Dr Tran Van Hoa
In the photo below taken at the closing
of the 2006 AFBE conference at NATI in
WTO,
30
November 2006, Institute of Economic Studies,
Prof Tran Van Hoa participated, on
30 Nov 2006, in an ARC Linkage Project Workshop on the WTO, Regional Trade Agreements and Their Impact on
Tran Van Hoa pointed out that while
high expectations are legitimate for new WTO members, the positive outcomes, from international evidence, may be relatively
small, and, from recent historical events in the region,
they are also strongly associated with risks (such as domestic turmoil and
inappropriate reform policies, regional and global shocks). He called for
caution and reservation by policy-makers about the hyped-up outcomes by
WTO-oriented advocates and consultants arising from a WTO membership and focus instead on the fundamental issues of competitiveness and
comparative advantages in international trade and commerce to
support sustainable development and regional economic relations.
In the photo below taken
at the conclusion of the Workshop at the IES are, from left to right, Assoc
Prof Dr Nguyen Van Lich (Director General, VIT, and ARC Linkage Partner Investigator),
Prof Dr Tran Van Hoa (ARC Linkage Chief Investigator), Dr Tran Du Lich
(Director, IES), and Assoc Prof Dr Tran Dinh Thien (Institute of Economics,
Hanoi)
The photo below shows some participants
at the Workshop
WTO and
Asian Economic Integration: What Regional and Provincial Economies Gain?
11 August 2006,
While the negotiations for
WTO and FTA memberships focus on national or aggregate benefits
(and losses), concerns are ripe about the realisation of these benefits (and
losses) at the grass-roots, provincial or regional level. It is accepted
generally that WTO and FTA memberships, often after long and hard negotiations
lasting many years, can bring about more trade, enhanced development and
growth, welfare improvement and poverty reduction, otherwise the aspiring
countries will not sign the agreements. It is also
clear that not all regions and sectors of a member country can uniformly gain
from the memberships. In fact, some sectors and regions will
lose This painful truth is found both in developed
(such as
To investigate this imbalance
of gains and losses from WTO or FTA memberships, Tran Van Hoa organised a
workshop on 11 August 2006 in the ancient imperial
city of
In the photo below taken
at the openning of the workshop at the Dien Bien
Hotel in Hue, Central Vietnam, are, from left to right,
Dr Nguyen Van Lich (Director-General, Vietnam Institute for Trade, Ministry of
Trade, ARC Project Industry Partner), Dr Nguyen Tan Thien (Vice-Chairman, People's
Committee of the Thua Thien-Hue Province),
Prof Tran Van Hoa (Director, Vietnam and ASEAN+ Research Program, Victoria
University, Melbourne, ARC Project Leader), and Prof Tran Than Quoc (Institute of World Economics, Hanoi).
WTO and Asian FTA Commitments
7-10 August 2006, Ministry of Trade,
Prof Tran Van Hoa
recently participated in a series of Policy Advising Workshops and a
Dissemination Seminar organized by ACIL-Cardno and Department of Planning and
Investment (DPI), Vietnam Ministry of Trade (MOT), in
The workshops, taking place in Hanoi
during 7-9 August 2006, were designed to assist a select group of Vietnam trade
officials and academics in carrying out relevant research (1) to prepare
available trade options (training) and (2) to propose effective implementable
trade policies (mentoring) of the country’s major negotiated commitments
under its general economic integration but especially under its forthcoming WTO
membership. The specific commitments under study in this
round cover (a) import control measures, (b) distribution services and (c) subsidies
and countervailing measures. These commitments and,
more importantly, their economic, trade, environment and social implications
are currently of high priorities managed by MOT as its ministerial functions.
The final research reports were presented at
the dissemination seminar (chaired by the Deputy Director-General of DPI, Dr
Hoang Thinh Lam) for discussion and media exposure on 10 August 2006 at the
Melia Hotel in
In the photo of some participants below
taken at the dissemination seminar at the Melia Hotel in Hanoi, on 10 August
2006, are (from left to right, front row) Dr Pham Quang Thao (Rector, National
Advanced Training Institute, MOT), Prof Tran Van Hoa (Research Professor and
Director, Vietnam and ASEAN+ Research Program, Victoria University, Melbourne,
Australia), Mr Nguyen Quang Anh (Program Officer, AusAID, Australian Embassy,
Hanoi) and Ms Susan McKeag (First Secretary, AusAID, Australian Embassy,
Hanoi).
7-8 July 2006,
Tran Van Hoa participated in
the Korea and the World Economy V: Korea and the FTA
Conference put on by the Association of the Korean
Economic Studies (AKES), Korea Development Institute, Korea
University-BK21-Economics, Korea Institute of Finance (KIF) and Washington
University (Seattle, USA) at Korea University in Seoul on 7-8 July 2006 to deliver
a paper on the impact of economic reforms and global shocks
on the Korea economy and trade and to discuss papers
presented. While at the
The photo below taken at
the Award Ceremony in the Conference Room of Korea University shows Prof Tran
Van Hoa receiving the 2004 Best Paper Award Plaque, looked on by the President of AKES, Prof Sung Tae Ro.
Asia-Pacific
Economic Forum (APEF) V Conference,
United Nations
Economic and Social Commission for the
5-6 July 2006,
Tran Van Hoa attended the APEF V
Conference to deliver a paper on the gains and losses of an
Australian-China free trade agreement which is currently (2006) under negotiation
between the governments of
While in Chuncheon, Prof Tran
Van Hoa also participated in the training course for sustainable
development for young leaders from the Asia Pacific organised by
In the photo below taken at the KNU
training centre in Chuncheon are the UNESCAP-KNU Asia-Pacific trainees and Prof
Tran Van Hoa (5th from right, second row).
WTO,
24-26 June 2006
Tran Van Hoa was an invited speaker at the
WTO,
In the photo below taken at
a welcoming dinner at the Ting Li Guan Restaurant
in the Royal Summer Palace in Beijing are Prof Guijun
Lin, Vice-President of UIBE, and Prof Tran Van Hoa.
AUSTRALIA-MALAYSIA: A DIFFICULT RELATIONSHIP?
2 June
2006, Windsor Hotel,
In spite of their
similar political structures, geographical nearness, historical links, and the
economic, social and regional cooperation successes of Malaysia in the past few
decades, the relationship between
Australia and Malaysia has not been easy in recent years at both the commercial
and highest political levels. Attention in both
countries is needed to improve this relationship for mutual benefits especially
with the introduction of the 9th
At the Forum, Prof Tran Van Hoa
raised the question on the recent (Kuala Lumpur, 14 December 2005)
proposed enlargement of the ASEAN to include Australia and New Zealand (among
other major trading blocs) after Australia decided to sign, after a long delay,
the ASEAN Treaty of Amity and Cooperation, and the view, if any, of Malaysia about the potential costs, benefits
or problems of this regional membership and its impact on the relationship
between Australia and Malaysia. This is in the context of a difficult
relationship between the two countries in the past.
In the
photo below taken at the Windsor Hotel are, from left to right, Prof Tran Van
Hoa, Malaysia Foreign Minster, the Hon. Dato Seri Syed Hamid Albar, and Ms
Elisabeth Hames-Brooks (Honorary Fellow, Monash Asia Institute).
A DIPLOMATIC CONCLUSION
26 May 2006, Sidney Myer
Asia Centre,
Vietnam’s new
(since November 2005) ambassador to Australia,
HE Nguyen Thanh Tan, accompanied by his First Secretary, Mr Nguyen Van Nhat, visited Melbourne on 26 May 2006 to deliver his
first public lecture in Victoria on Vietnam’s recent economic
achievements, reforms, growing trade with Australia (worth $A3,896 million in 2005), and prospects after the
country’s 10th Party Congress taking place in Hanoi last
April. The visit was organised by the Asia Link in collaboration with the Department of Political Science
at the
Prof Tran Van Hoa attended the lecture
and participated
in the discussion on
In
the photo below taken at the Yasuko Hiraoka Myer Room at the Sidney Myer Asia
Centre, University of Melbourne, are, from left to right, Ms Kieu Thanh (Ph D
Research Scholar, Faculty of Business and Law, Victoria University), HE Nguyen
Thanh Tan (Vietnam Ambassador to Australia), Prof Tran Van Hoa, and Ms
Elisabeth Hames-Brooks (Honorary Fellow, Monash Asia Institute, Monash
University).
WTO
MEMBERSHIP AND ASEAN FTA:
IMPACT ON
Prof Tran Van Hoa recently
participated in the 2006 Regional Progress Workshop,
organised by the consulting firm ACIL
(Australia) as part of the
Trade Analysis and Reform Project (TARP) funded by the Australian Government's
AusAID over the period 2005-08, to assist in
capacity-building of government officials in Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and
Vietnam, to prepare and manage their countries' WTO
accession negotiations and implementation. A total
of 11 research projects of high-priority national interest and specifically
dealing with trade and reforms in the context of the WTO and ASEAN free trade
agreements were selected by these countries senior government officials for
analysis. At the workshop, about 30 government officials were present to report
their research progress and to receive feedback from TARP consultants
(trainers, mentors and project managers) which included business consultants,
well-known academics and senior government officials from Australia, New
Zealand, Canada, the US, the UK and Hong Kong.
In the photo below taken
at the closing of the Workshop in the Crystal Ballroom of Holiday Inn in Silom
Road, Bangkok, are (first row, from left to right) Prof Tran Van Hoa (Vietnam
Mentor, 4th place), Bill Bowen (Laos Mentor, 6th), Ms Raviprapa Srisartsanarat
(TARP Project Manager, AusAID, Australian Embassy, Bangkok, 8th), Alan Oxley
(Vietnam Trainer, ITS, 9th), and Sam Chittick (TARP Project Manager, ACIL,
14th).
AUSTRALIA-CHINA FREE TRADE
AGREEMENT:
WHO GAINS AND WHO LOSES?
Capital
Regional free trade agreements (FTAs) have
proliferated in
In response to this lack of substantive
research and information for informed debates, Tran
Van Hoa, with the funding support from Australia Department of Foreign Affairs,
AusAID-ISSS Division, and China high-level academic institutions, led a
group of ASEAN and Australia experts on regional FTAs to participate in a 2-day 2-university conference and experts symposium
in Beijing to report on important new research work
by ASEAN, Australian and Chinese experts on sectoral, regional and national
gains and losses of an ACFTA to improve informed trade analysis and trade
policy by the two countries. Over 25 and 70 ASEAN, Australian and Chinese
academics and experts attended the CUBE experts
symposium and the RUC conference respectively.
The photo below taken at the
Opening Address given by the Local Organiser, Prof Yanyun Zhao, at the ACFTA
Conference in the School of Statistics Building on RUC campus on 18 April 2006
shows some of the participants.
In the photo below are,
from left to right, (2nd to 7th) Prof
TRADE ANALYSIS AND REFORM
PROJECT (TARP) FOR
Tran Van Hoa recently joined an
international team of trainers and mentors to provide high-level training and
research capacity-building on the WTO/FTA and its practical policy
implementation for government officials in
In the photo below are some members of the
TARP trainer and mentor team after the Briefing Session at the Sofitel Hotel
Central Plaza in Bangkok, Thailand: (from left to right) Bill Dymond (Director,
Centre for Trade Policy and Law, Carlton University, Canada), Alan Oxley
(Managing Director, Monash University APEC Study Centre), Bill Bowen (Principal
Consultant, ITS Global, Melbourne), Prof Tran Van Hoa (CSES and Director,
Vietnam and ASEAN+ Research Program, Victoria University, Melbourne,
Australia), and Dr Razeen Sally (ISEAS, Singapore).
The TARP briefings in
A New Approach to Better
Study the Impact of the WTO Membership and Free Trade Agreements: International
Recognition
30 January 2006,
The WTO membership and its subsets, regional free
trade agreements (FTAs), are considered world-wide the main frameworks to
promote trade, development, growth and welfare improvement for member
countries. However, the benefits (and costs) of these frameworks are usually
perceived in official negotiations and expert debates leading to a WTO/FTA membership
more as an article of faith (in free-market economics) than as hard or reliable
substantive empirical evidence. The importance of more reliable empirical
evidence on this impact of the WTO and FTAs is recognised in the form of the 2004
Best Paper Prize awarded recently by the Association
of the Korean Economic Studies (AKES) to a journal article
written by Prof Tran Van Hoa, Korea’s
Trade, Growth of Trade and the World Economy in Post-crisis ASEAN+3 Free Trade
Agreement: An Econometric and Policy Analysis, Journal
of the Korean Economy, 2004, Vol. 5, No. 2, pp.
73-108. Online
access:www.akes.or.kr/jke/index.htm. The paper introduces the
Generalised Gravity Theory and a new modelling and impact study approach (with
superior properties to existing quantitative methodologies adopted by some
academics and international organisations such as the IMF, the World Bank, and
the Asian Development Bank) to investigate and causally explain Korea's
spectacular ups-and-downs economic performance in the past 30 years.
ASEAN,
Monash Asia Institute,
Regional economic integration (EI) and free trade
agreements (FTAs) have proliferated in Asia and Oceania in recent years,
resulting in, for example, the current AFTA, ASEAN+3, Australia-Thailand,
Australia-Singapore, Japan+Singapore, and the proposed ASEAN+Australia,
ASEAN+India and ASEAN+Russia. The ASEAN+ FTAs in particular are important for
South East Asian countries in their regional strategic alignment to promote
growth, investment, services, economic relations and co-operation, and
political dialogue. These issues and the implications of the economic
performance and sustainability of China and India or China vis-à-vis India were
discussed by Prof B.B. Bhattacharya, the new Vice-Chancellor of India’s
prestigious postgraduate university, Jewaharlal Nehru University (JNU), at a
recent seminar on India as an Emerging Economic Power:
Constraints and Imperatives at Monash Asia Insitute on 19 January
2006. (It is important to note that one of the JNU’s long-established
traditions is that JNU’s Vice-Chancellors are appointed by the President
of
In the photo taken before the seminar
at the
Methodologies
to Measure the Impact of Free Trade Agreements and the WTO
6 December 2005, Hanoi, Vietnam
Institute for Trade (VIT), Ministry of
While there are many ways, from simple
to sophisticated, to measure the effects of economic policy and change, and
global co-operation, existing methods such as the CGE/GTAP
or gravity theory, while popular and useful, may not be
appropriate for robust and realistic outcomes because of their structural
restrictions and data limitations. A survey of these methods and other new and
more reliable approaches (such as the Generalised Gravity
Theory proposed in 2002 by Tran Van Hoa and applied
extensively) was provided by Tran Van Hoa recently when he attended the
Australian Research Council-VIT workshop, organised by the 2004-07 ARC Linkage
Industry Partner, VIT, in Hanoi, to deliver a lead lecture on recent
methodologies to evaluate the benefits and costs of free trade agreements
(FTAs) and the WTO membership. The workshop was also used as a venue for
capacity-building for government officials in
In the photo below taken at the
Conference Centre at the VIT Headquarter, 46 Ngo Quyen, Hanoi, are, from left
to right, Doctoral Scholar Ho Trung Thanh, (Head, Research Department, VIT), Dr
Pham Lan Huong (Head, Economic Integration Department, Central Institute for
Economic Management (CIEM), Ministry of Planning and Investment), Prof Tran Van
Hoa (ARC Linkage Project Leader), and Prof Dr Nguyen Van Lich (Director-General,
VIT, and ARC Linkage Industry Partner).
Asian
Forum on Business Education
30 Nov-2 Dec 2005,
The ways business has been
conducted in major Asian countries in recent years were discussed at the 10th
Asian Forum on Business Education (AFBE) conference organised by the Faculty of
Management Sciences at Ubonrajathani University in north-east Thailand during 30
Nov-2 Dec 2005. More than 50 experts, academics,
corporate executives, and MBA and DBA students from major countries in Asia,
Australasia, Europe and
In the photo taken at the conference
venue, the Tor Sang Hotel, are, from left to right, Prof Dr Apichai Puntasen
(Dean, Faculty of Management Sciences, Ubonrajathani University), Prof Tran Van
Hoa, Prof Prakob Wirojanagud (President, Ubonrajatani University), and
Prof Brian Sheehan (President and Secretary, AFBE)
The photo below shows some of the
participants at the Opening Ceremony of the 10th AFBE conference.
Issues of
Trade, Development, Investment, Cooperation, and Integration in an Enlarged ASEAN
Centre for Strategic
Economic Studies (CSES),
24-25 November 2005,
Victorian Arts Centre,
Tran Van Hoa convened and organised an important
high-level international conference on 24-25 November 2005 at the Centre for
Strategic Economic Studies (CSES),
Funded by the Australian Government’s AusAID and the Faculty of Business
and Law, the conference attracted eminent economists and speakers from major
countries in an enlarged ASEAN region. These include
Interest
was also shown by such organisations in
The special focus of the conference was to discuss major issues in trade in
merchandise goods, services (including education and finance), investment,
across- and inside-border economic integration, corporate culture in
international business, poverty reduction through trade, the effectiveness of
ODA-related micro-finance programmes, the role of SMEs and agriculture (a major
obstacle in on-going WTO negotiations), issues of intellectual properties (eg,
pharmaceuticals), issues of large trade surplus for Asian economies, and
regional economic relations and cooperation between enlarged ASEAN members.
Some of these are timely and major issues for presentation and discussion in
the forthcoming agenda of the First
East Asia Summit by enlarged ASEAN Heads of State and hosted by the Government
of Malaysia taking place on 13-14 December 2005 in
In
the photo below taken at the Conference Opening Ceremony at the
Amcor-Commonwealth Bank Suites at the Victorian Arts Centre are, from left to
right, Prof
In
the photo below are some of the participants attending the conference.
The photo below, taken at the
Vice-Chancellor Conference Suite at Victoria University Melbourne City Campus,
shows some of the participants at the roundtable discussion of the First
East Asia Summit and other trade, investment, services, and economic
co-operation issues.
Impact of
Asian Free Trade Agreements and the WTO on
10-13 November 2005
Dong Bei (North-East) University of Finance and
Economics (DUFE),
Four in a network
of a total of 30 Universities of Business, Economics and Finance in China
recently held an international conference Statistical
Modelling and Regional Economic Development in West China at the Capital (Beijing) University of Business and Economics (CUBE),
Beijing, to discuss economic development issues in
North-East, North-West, Central West and South-West China, and the impact of
Asian free trade agreements and the WTO on this regional development. Tran Van Hoa was a keynote speaker at this conference which was funded
by businesses and the local and central governments. The conference attracted
more than 60 participants from all regions in
In the photo below are, from left to right, Prof
Hong Ji (Head of the Statistics Department, CUBE, and Local Organiser), Prof
Tran Van Hoa, Prof Wenju Wang (Vice President, CUBE), and Prof Yanyun Zhao
(Director. Center for Competitiveness Studies, and
In the photo below are Prof Tran Van
Hoa (5th from left, first row, standing) and Prof Charles Harvie (6th,
Director, SME Research Centre, University of Wollongong) with some participants
in front of the Conference Centre at the Winterless Hotel in Beijing.
The photo below shows some of the
audience at the Special Sunday Lecture given
by Prof Tran Van Hoa at Dong Bei (literally East North)
How to
Measure More Reliably the Rural Impact of Asia-Australia Free Trade Agreements
19 October
2005, Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, NSW, Australia
Tran Van Hoa was invited to visit the Faculty
of Commerce at
In the photo taken
at the seminar are, from left to right, Associate Prof Kishor Sharma (Sub Dean,
International Research), Prof Tran Van Hoa,
Prof Eddie Oczkowski, and Chris Deely
(Seminar Convenor)
Measuring Women's
Worth in Society and the Economy
28 September 2005,
Women's contribution to society
and the economy world-wide had been, for more than 100 years, neglected or
grossly underestimated by mainstream economics and sociology and, occasionally,
even by university and college presidents. This is unfortunate despite the
seminal studies on women's market and non-market work and pay or worth by
Charlotte Perkins Gilman in 1898 (Women and
Economics), Margaret Reid in 1934 (Economics of
Household Production) or Gary Becker (USA) and
Duncan Ironmonger (Australia) in more recent
years. This perception and deficit have however been rectified to a large
extent by significant studies by international experts in the area and
published in August 2005 in Tran Van Hoa (editor) Advances
in Household Economics, Consumer Behaviour and Economic Policy (Ashgate,
Aldershot, UK).
The timely and important book
contains recent studies, in honour of Duncan Ironmonger's life-time work, on
the state-of-the-art in the measurement and application of household economics
and household production, and on new developments of consumer behaviour (essential
for effective marketing). More importantly, the book discusses
the implications of these advances for more appropriate and effective analysis
and formulation of contemporary economic and social and welfare policy in both
developed and and developing countries and at the micro and macroeconomic
level. The studies contained in the book also point out that women's worth is
immense for society and, in an economic sense, far excceds the GDP (as measured
routinely so far by market activities only) of a nation.
The book was formally launched by Prof Emeritus
Joe Isaac at the invitation of Prof Emeritus Jim Perkins, on 28 September 2005
at the
In the photo below taken at University
House, University of Melbourne, at the book's launch are, from left to right,
Dr Duncan Ironmonger (Director, Households Research Unit, Department of
Economics, University of Melbourne), Dr Barry Jones (President, Australian
Labor Party), Prof Tran Van Hoa, and Prof
Asia and Regional
Development in
23 September 2005
Tran Van Hoa attended and delivered a keynote speech at the 2005
Asia Update Forum in
Speakers at the 2005 Forum included the Director General of the NSW
Regional and State Development Department, First Assistant Secretary of the
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, ABARE senior economist, Austrade commissioner,
Chairman of the Central West Regional Development Board, Prof Tran Van Hoa,
Prof Stephanie Fahey (University of Sydney), an MLA, and the regional manager
of DEVRO.
In the photo taken at the Forum function below are, from left to right
(standing), 1st, Mr Sandy Morrison (Chair, Central West Regional Development
Board); 2nd, Jammie Penn (ABARE); 3rd partly obscured, Mr Loftus Harris
(Director General, NSWRSDD); 4th, Prof Stephanie Fahey (Pro Vice Chancellor and
Director, Research Institute for Asia and the Pacific, Sydney University); 9th,
Prof Kevin Parton (Forum Organiser); 11th, Prof Tran Van Hoa; and 14th, Dan
Williams, Trade Commissioner at the Australian Embassy in the Philippines.
ASEAN+3
FREE TRADE AGREEMENT AND AUSTRALIA-VIETNAM TRADE
6
September 2005, Ministry of Trade,
Tran
Van Hoa recently participated in an ARC workshop on ASEAN+3
Free Trade Agreement and Recent Trends in Trade and Development in ASEAN at the Vietnam
Institute for Trade (VIT), Ministry of Trade (MOT), in Hanoi. The workshop was
organised by the ARC Industry Partner, VIT, and was a venue to report the
progress research work of the first stage of activities of the ARC Linkage
Project ASEAN+3 Free Trade Agreement and Its Impact on
Australia-Vietnam Trade. At the workshop, aspects and issues of FTAs, recent
trends in trade, investment, development, growth, and regional economic
relations were presented and discussed by Prof Tran Van Hoa (the ARC Chief
Investigator) and VIT researchers. More than 30 MOT government officials
attended the workshop.
A
fieldtrip for the ARC Chief Investigator to a southern province in
In the photo below taken at the workshop are, from left to right, Ho
Trung Thanh (ARC VIT Project Manager), Prof Tran Van Hoa, Dr Nguyen Van Thanh
(Deputy Director General, VIT), and Nguyen Van Duong (Director, International
Office, VIT).
In the photo below is a view of participants at the workshop at VIT
headquarters in
15th
During 28-29
June 2005, Tran Van Hoa also attended, as an IOA delegate invited by the Local
Organiser, the 15th Interntional Conference of the Input
Output Association that took place at Run Run Shaw
Conference Center at the Renmin University of China in Beijing. The Conference
was highly significant in that it was the first ever IIOA conference taking
place in
In the photo below
taken in front of the School of Staitsics Building at Renmin University of
China are, from left to right, Prof Qiyun Liu (IIOA Vice President, China) , Prof Yanyun Zhao (IIOA Vice President, China, and
Conference Local Organiser), Prof Karen Rosel Polemke (former IIOA President,
and Prof, Department of Urban Studies, MIT, USA), and Prof Tran Van Hoa,
WTO,
X'ian
Tran Van Hoa recently
attended the International Conference on the WTO,
In the photo below
taken at the Conference Opening Ceremony at the X'ian Jiaotong University
Conference Center are, from left to right, Prof Tran Van Hoa, Ms Aq Ying Gao
(Shan'xi TV Representative) and Prof Zongxian Feng (Head of Department of
Economics and Finance, XJTU), the Local Conference Organiser.
Development and
Co-operation in
the
An AusAID-funded
International Workshop
Hanoi 29-30 March 2005, NATI, Vietnam Ministry of
Trade
An important international
workshop with the theme Impact of the WTO and Regional Economic
Integration on Development and Trade in the Mekong River Subregion Economies
recently took place at the National Advanced Training Insitute (NATI), Vietnam
Ministry of Trade, in
Facilitated by Prof Tran Van Hoa
(Department of Economics, and Director, ASEAN+3 and Vietnam Focus Research
Program, University of Wollongong, Australia), funded by
AusAID, Australia Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade,
locally organised by the NATI (Rector, Dr Pham Quang Thao), and co-sponsored by
Prof
Major issues for presentation and discussion
were focused on the turbulent history of the economies in the GMS, their
current economic and trade development nationally and within the framework of
the WTO and regional economic integration, and the need for their co-operation
to enhance their mutually important economic, commerce and political benefits
in the medium and long term.
The
workshop papers and discussion were widely reported in the English (eg, Viet
Nam News and Vietnam Investment Review, 30 March 2005) and Vietnamese mass media.
In the photo below, taken in the NATI
auditorium at the opening ceremony of the workshop, are, from left to right,
Prof Yanyun Zhao (P.R. China), Prof Charles Harvie (Britain), Prof
In the photo below taken at the
workshop during discussion are Prof Tran Van Hoa (left) and Mr
Phanh Vilaysom, Economic and Commercial Counsellor at the Embassy of
the Lao People Democratic Republic (PDR).
Below is a photo of
some of the participants, coming from the major ministries, national and international
agencies, and national and transnational companies in
ASEAN+3 Free Trade Agreement:
Impact on Australia-Vietnam Trade and Investment
10 November 2004, Vietnam Institute for Trade,
With the slow progress and still extensive
disagreements on the
A new methodology with substantial
and realistic improvements on economic structure, scope in trade, time-series
data consistency and superior estimation and impact features has been proposed
in a major international linkage research project to study an important
regional economic and trade issue in Asia: the Impact of
ASEAN+3 FTA on Australia-Vietnam Trade. Funded by the
Australian Government Research Council (ARC) for the period 2004-07,
the project is managed by Prof Tran Van Hoa (the Chief
Investigator) and with the collaboration of the Director-General (the Industry
Partner Investigator), Prof Nguyen Van Lich, of Vietnam Institute for Trade
(VIT), a division of Vietnam Ministry of Trade. VIT-funds
matching ARC grant were provided by Vietnam Ministry of Trade under the
sponsorship of HE Le Danh Vinh, Vice Minister of Trade. Substantive
empirical outcomes from the project are expected to provide timely, robust and
reliable policy recommendations to both the governments and trade agencies in
Australia and Vietnam to enhance their trade and economic well-being and
regional cooperation and, as a result, stability and security in the region.
Applications of the methodology to other FTAs such as the recent Australia-US
and Australia-Thailand and the proposed ASEAN+
In the photo below taken at the
Signing Ceremony of the ARC Linkage Project at the Vietnam Institute for
Trade's conference centre at its headquarter, 46
Ngo Quyen, Hanoi, are from left to right, Ms Nguyen Thi Nga (VIT Interpreter),
Prof Dr Nguyen Van Lich (VIT Director-General), H.E. Le Danh Vinh (Vietnam
Vice-Minister for Trade), H.E. Joe Thwaites (Australian Ambassador to Vietnam),
and Prof Tran Van Hoa. The Signing Ceremony was nationally televised and
reported in the radio and print media.
What's New in Sex Discrimination and
Economic Policy
4 November 2004
Department of Economics,
In the photo below taken at a post-lecture dinner
at the University Food Re-thought Restaurant are
the
Hon Sharon Bird, new Federal MP for Cunningham and Prof Tran Van Hoa.
Second Italy-China International
Conference on
Economic and Social Statistics
25 October 2004
University of
As part of their on-going collaborative work in economic and
statistical research
within the Asia-Europe linkage framework, the University of Florence (UNIFI) in Italy and the Renmin University
of China (RUC) in Beijing, China, jointly held
their 2nd interntional conference at the Department of Statistics (G. Parenti)
Centre on the UNIFI campus on 25 October 2004 (the first Italy-China
international conference was held in Guangdong in December 2002). Co-ordinated by Profs
Guido Ferrari of UNIFI and Yanyun Zhao of RUC and with the collaboration of
Prof Tran Van Hoa (University of Wollongong, Australia), the conference had the participation of more
than 20 academics and experts from major cities in Italy, four major
provinces in China and high-ranking universities in Australia. The topics of
discussion are wide-ranging (16 papers were presented) and cover both
theoretical and empirical aspects of: ASEAN+3 free trade agreement and
its impact on Asia-EU trade, growth and economic relations; computable regional
equilibrium modelling; R&D, technology innovation, competitiveness,
technology efficieny and optimal expenditure size on national, regional and
sectoral growth in China; administrative data organization, teaching supply
analysis and university education evaluation in Italy; use of equivalence
scales in separated (divorced) family child support; and firm size
distribution in a socialist market economy (such as China and Vietnam).
The conference was also a major event from a bilateral (Italy-China)
perspective that was organised to help, through the efforts of EU and Asia
economic and statistical academics and experts, to strengthen the broader
Asia-EU link and collaboration scheme vigorously supported by the European Commission
and the Government of China and institutions in Asia and
In the photo below taken at the opening of the conference are, from left
to right, Prof Sandro Viviani (UNIFI), Dr Lorella Palla (Head, UNIFI
International Relations Office), Mr Li Runfu (Consul General of China in
Florence), Prof Guido Ferrari (UNIFI), Prof Tran Van Hoa (UOW) and Prof Yanyun
Zhao (RUC).
In the photo below taken on the terrace at the Pitti Palace Hotel for the Conference Farewell Dinner,
hosted by Mr Paolo del Bianco, President of the Fondazione Romualdo del Bianco
of Florence (a non-profit agency with international social mission objectives), are, from left to right, Prof
Guido Ferrari, Mr Paolo del Bianco, Prof Tran Van Hoa and Prof Yanyun Zhao.
4th Asia-Pacific Economic Forum
International Conference
Asian and Global Economies:
Issues of Competitiveness and Growth
5-7 September
2004
Renmin
The Asia-Pacific Economic Forum (APEF) held, with the financial support
of China Department of Education, its 4th International Conference at the
Renmin (People)
Founded in 2001 at the Kangwon National University, Chunchon, Korea, the
APEF which is a new economics society has a wide-ranging high-level membership
from a global academic and government expert community consisting of major
countries in Asia (eg, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Philippines,
Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam), the European Union (France, Italy), the Middle East
(Iran), North America (the US and Canada) and Oceania (Australia and New
Zealand). The focus of interest, research and dissemination of substantive
findings of the APEF is economic development and growth, trade and investment,
competitiveness, free trade agreements, international economic integration and
relations, and new Asian regionalism.
Participants at the APEF 4 Conference include
academics, government and Asian Development Bank economists and other
experts from the powerful East Asia 3 group,
In the group photo below taken in the Run Run Shaw Room at the Yi Fu Conference
Centre at Renmin University of China are, from left and from 7th to 13th
places, Prof
Globalisation Gains and Losses:
Lord Meghnad Desai
Prof Meghnad Desai of the London School of Economics and a life peer of St Clement
Danes (in
In the photo below taken in the Faculty of Arts at the
University of Wollongong during his visit are, from left to right, Prof Leone
Lyons, Deputy Diretor of CAPSTRANS, Prof Lord Meghnad Desai and Prof Tran Van
Hoa.
3-4 July 2004,
Early in July 2004, Tran Van Hoa
attended the third conference in the conference series Korea
and the World Economy,taking place on 3-4 July 2004 at
Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, Korea,to deliver a paper on Korea's
Trade,Growth
of Trade and the World Economies in Post-crisis ASEAN+3 Free Trade Agreement. He
also acted as a discussant in a Plenary Session Economic
Cooperation in
In the photo below taken in the 600 Anniversary
Memorial Hall at Sungkyunkwan University at the end of the Conference are, from
left to right, Prof H H Lee (Kangwon National University, Korea), Prof Charles Harvie (Director, Hunter Valley Research
Foundation, Australia), Prof Chung Mo Koo (Kangwon National University), Prof
Jong Won Lee (President, AKES), Prof Tran Van Hoa (Australia), and Prof Karyiu
Wong (RCIE, USA).
Contemporary Modelling Economic and
Financial Policy:
A European Union Perspective
30 June-2 July 2004, Universite de Paris I, Pantheon-Sorbonne
Tran Van Hoa participated in the EcoMod 2004
International Conference on Policy Modelling that took place on 30 June-2 July
2004 at France's prestigious university, Pantheon-Sorbonne, Universite de Paris
I, to present his current modelling policy research work on the Impact of the ASEAN+3
Free Trade Agreement on Asia-Europe Trade and Economic Relations: A New
Modelling Approach. The Conference was organised by the EcoMod Network and sponsored by
The keynote addresses and papers delivered at the
Conference represent some of the state-of-the-art research and
commissioned activities by economic and financial experts on major
issues, aspects and policy modelling methodologial advances in trade, growth,
monetary policy, labour, competition and economic relations in the EU and
in other countries that have relations with the EU. Attending the Conference
were over 200 academics, businesspeople, government officials and advisers, and
delegates from the European Commission, the European Central Bank, the US
International Trade Commission, and coming from the countries in the
EU, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Oceania, and the UK, the US,
and Russia.
In the photo below taken in the Sorbonne Foyer on the opening day at the
Conference are, from left to right, Lionel Fontaigne (Director, CEPII,
Professor, Universite de Paris I, and EcoMod 2004 Program Committee Member),
Beatrice Poster ( Executive Administrative, CEPII), and Tran Van Hoa.
WTO,
Major Regional Issues
An Interntional Conference was recently jointly
organised by the Research Center for International Economics (Director: Prof
Karyiu Wong) at Washington University (Seattle, USA), East-West Center (Hawaii,
USA), and the Business School, Renmin University of China, with a focus on the
theme The WTO, China and the Asian Economies II. The Conference
took place at the Yi Fu Conference Center on RUC campus
during 18-19 June 2004 with the participation of over 60 experts
from
Since its WTO membership in 2001,
In the photo below, taken at the
RUC Yi Fu Conference Center, are, from left to right, Prof Feng Zongxian (Xian
Giaotong University and Organiser for 2005 WTO and China III Conference), Prof
Karyiu Wong (Director, RCIE, University of Washington, USA) and Prof Tran Van
Hoa (Director, Vietnam Focus and ASEAN+3 Research Program, Wollongong
University, Australia).
In the group photo taken in front of the RUC Yi
Fu Conference Center at the end of the Conference on WTO,
ASEAN+3 Free Trade Agreement
and Its Impact on Australia-China Trade:
Who Gains and Who Loses?
With the slow progress of the WTO negotiations
(due chiefly to several yet unresolvable issues on trade protection and
subsidies by WTO members) and the still non-WTO membership of many LDCs, the
proliferation of regional free trade agreeements (FTAs) and closer economic
relations (CER) especially in Asia in order to liberalise trade and promote
growth is being vigorously supported by governments and the development is
amply justified. One of these important recent FTAs is the ASEAN+3 (10 ASEAN
countries plus
The first workshop to report on the
project's research findings by UOW and RUC economic and trade experts was
organised by Prof Zhao at the China Centre for Applied
Statistics Research on the RUC campus on 17 June 2004 where Tran Van Hoa
and other Chinese experts presented and discussed their progress work.
Participants in the workshop also included postgraduate students, postdoctoral
fellows and academics from the RUC and other Chinese universities.
In the photo below, taken at the end of the
workshop in the School of Statistics, RUC, are some participants including,
from left to right, Prof Guirong Li (School of FInance, RUC, 6th place), Prof
Yanyun Zhao (RUC, 8th place), and Prof Tran Van Hoa (9th place).
GLOBALISATION: DEFINITION AND
FUNDAMENTAL ISSUES
May 2004
Globalisation is perhaps one of the most
frequently quoted words or reverently cited concepts in all areas of
contemporary hard, soft or metaphysical sciences (eg, engineering, economics,
humanities, politics, business, management, governance, religion, sociology,
philosophy, to name a few), but it remains the most misunderstood or
mis-interpreted at all levels, layman or expert, of enquiry. Every one of the
2822 acdemic papers and 589 books published in 1998 alone for example has its
own definition (see www.globalisationguide.org/01.html). A quick browse
of current writings or debates on globalisation will however reveal that most
publications and discussions focus essentially on what globalisation does or
generates rather than on what it truly is.
Globalisation occurs (or is) when human
activities (physical and non-physical), originated from one state, move to
other dependent (satellite) or independent (sovereign) states. These activities
may be in one of the areas mentioned above. A cause of this movement is the
superiority (or comparative advantages, competitiveness, or novelty) of the
tools (goods), the ideas (services), finance (capital availability) or the
armed forces of a state. The outcome of this globalisation can be either
better (unification of warring states, improved trade and
living standards, broadened enlightenment or closer economic relations), or
for worse [destruction of a state (forced and invited occupation),
its infrastructure, activities, resources (deforestation, environment
degradation, or terrorist attacks) or its culture (religion, family, custom or
ages-old traditions)].
With this definition, globalisation could be
regarded as being existent with the first human cross-continetal migration of
the world, followed or manisfested further by the occupation or expansion or
the international trade of the desert kingdoms in the Middle East (the cradle
of civilisation), the rise and fall of the Greek and Roman empires, the global
spread of Christianity, Buddism or Islam or more recent diverse religions, the
establishment of the Silk Road, the conquests of the Gengis Khan families, the
adventures of Marco Polo, the colonial empires of major European countries in
America, Africa, Asia and the Pacific, the continental or world wars of the
past, the feared hegemonism of communism after the Second World War and
socialism, the setting-up of the League of Nations, the United Nations, the
GATT and GATS, the WTO, and the increasing reach and influence of capitalism
and its coporates. The current promotion of globalisation by
its advocates is usually based on the utilisation of international
competitiveness or an advancement of closer economic relations. The
anti-globalisation supporters, while grudgingly admitting the process of
globalisation, emphasise on the other hand the lack of equity or fairness (who
gains most and who loses most) or the social concerns of globalisation. Like
all other things in life, an equilibrium (or balance) of gains (output growth,
improved living standard, welfare and security) and losses (rights and wrongs,
suitability and unsuitablity, transgenerational negatives and pluses) of
globalisation (or all other human activities or decisions) must be considered
and achieved for optimal outcomes and less wasteful confrontations for all
stakeholders. Curiously, efficiency and equity are the two main
concerns of mainstream economics and the real
base for research, policy advice and public debates by respectable
economists. See also Tran Van Hoa and C Harvie (eds)
New Asian Regionalism: Responses to Globalisation and Crises,
ACADEMIC WRITERS AND INTERNATIONAL
PUBLISHERS:
IMPORTANT LINK
2 March 2004
A strong linkage between the 'research and
write' academics and reputable international publishers is crucial for an efficient public-benefits dissemination worldwide of new
knowledge and findings of both a basic and applied/policy kind in all
scientific endeavours. To maintain this linkage, Edward and Sandy Elgar
of Edward Elgar Publishers in the
In the photo below taken in the Department of
Economics during Catherine's hectic visit and meetings with academics at the
University of Wollognong are (from left)
Prof Ann Hodgkinson (Head of the School of Economics and Information Systems),
Catherine Elgar (Edward Elgar, UK) and Prof Tran Van Hoa (who, in addition to
other books published with Macmillan, UK, has published five books
with EE in the past four years).
AUSTRALIA-VIETNAM DIPLOMATIC, ECONOMIC
AND TRADE RELATIONS: 30 YEARS OF BRIDGING DIVIDES
14 February 2004, Stamford Plaza
Hotel,
On the Valentine Day 2004, the Director of the
ASEAN and Vietnam Focus Research Program at the University of Wollongong (Prof
Tran Van Hoa) attended an official function at the Stamford Plaza Hotel, Double
Bay, organised by the Vietnam Consul General in New South Wales (Mr Nguyen Van
Tho) to honour the visit by Vietnam's new Foreign Minister, H E Nguyen Di Nien,
to Sydney. The visit by Mr Nien (and his wife, Mrs Dung) was significant since
he was one of
At the function, it was also expressed that,
with these expanding relations and its abundance of natural, physical and human
resources, its dedication at all society levels to improve the economic and
social conditions, and its recent economic achievements even during the
devastating Asia crisis of 1997-2002 and the 2003 SARS and 2004 avian flu
outbreaks, Vietnam will surely stand proud of its future economic development
and social progress and its high standing in the regional and
international community.
In the photo below
taken at the Stamford Plaza Hotel function welcoming Vietnam Foreign Minister,
are (from left), the Hon. Nguyen Van Tho (Vietnam Consul General in Sydney),
Prof Tran Van Hoa, Mrs Dung, H E Nguyen Di Nien (Vietnam Foreign Minister), Mrs
Tran Thi Lai (Vina World Travel) and H E Le Xuan Lieu, Vietnam Ambassador to
Australia.
WHAT DO ASIAN ECONOMIES HAVE TO DO
WHEN FACING
REGIONAL CRISES AND RELENTLESS GLOBALISATION?
9 February 2004
Crises seem to beset most of us at all levels:
personal, community, national, global and transgenerational. The once 'high
growth miracle' economies of the East and
A new and timely book New Asian
Regionalism: Responses to Globalisation and Crises [edited by Tran Van
Hoa and Charles Harvie, Palgrave-Macmillan, 2003 (see below)], is a collection
of important studies by a select group of Asian and Oceanian economists
exploring and analysing the strong emergence of Asian regionalisms and economic
integration in the region in recent times to deal with the aftermath of the
recent crises, the relentless marching of globalisation, and the increasing
emphasis on and penetration of international competitiveness in all economies,
developed and developing. A product of an international conference organised by
the executives of the newly formed APEF (Asia Pacific Economic Forum) at the
University of Wollongong (Australia) in 2002, the book provides a wealth of
information and ideas on the development of this new Asian regionalism and how
it can be used by economic policy makers and shakers to steer Asian crisis
economies towards quick recovery, strong growth and more social and political
stability, and increasing living standards for all peoples in the region in the
near future.
FOR
8-10
December 2003
Impact and long-term implications as well as emerging challenges and
opportunities of Asia's past and current crises
and recoveries were the themes of the Asia Crisis V International
Conference taking place
on campus at the Kangwon National University (KNU) in
In the photo below taken on campus (Faculty of Arts Building) at the
Kangwon National University on the opening day of the Conference were (from
left) Prof Chung Mo Koo (Local Conference Organiser), Ms Kopea (KNU
Postgraduate Student, background), Prof Kar Yiu Wong (Conference Organiser,
University of Washington), Prof Dr Yong Soo Park
(President of KNU)
and Prof Tran Van Hoa.
AUSTRALIA
AND VIETNAM'S
ECONOMIC AND TRADE DEVELOPMENT
Hanoi, 4-8 December 2003
During the first week of the 22nd SEA
(South East Asia) Games taking place in Hanoi (30 November-14 December 2003),
Tran Van Hoa held discussions with senior officials of Vietnam's Ministry
of Trade (MOT) on current and planned work between MOT and the Vietnam
Focus Research Program (Director: Tran Van Hoa) at the University of Wollogong.
Work for the triennial 2004-2006 includes a number of training workshops for
Vietnam government officials on Research
and Investment Evaluation at NATI (MOT National Advanced
Training Institute) and a research project proposal ASEAN+3 Free Trade Agreement and its impact on Australia-Vietnam trade at
Vietnam Institute for Trade (VIT). Dicussions were also carried out on
potential collaborative work between NATI and VIT and VFOC on targeted areas of
interest in the $10 million ODA (Official Development Assistance) program
on
In the photo below taken at the VIT headquarter,
AUSTRALIA-THAILAND
FREE TRADE AGREEMENT: INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATIVE WORK
Prof Tran Van Hoa recently visited
Thailand's prestigious university, Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, to
develop international collaborative link and work between it and the University
of Wollongong (Australia) on aspects and issues including obstacles and
opportunities of the Australia-Thailand free
trade agreement (ATFTA) and closer economic relations signed
by the Prime Ministers of Australia and Thailand during the APEC Leaders
Meeting in Bangkok in November 2003. Representing
Informally attending the ATFTA
discussion and working lunch between Profs Tran Van Hoa (UOW) and Suthipand
Chirathivat (Chula) was their colleague, H. E.
Dr Kitti Limskul, Thailand's Vice Minister of Finance, who was
a professor (on leave) at Chulalobngkorn University and one of the 23 founding
members of the ruling party, Thai
Ruk Thai, in Thailand. Prof Tran Van Hoa later visited Dr
Kitti's office at the Ministry of Finance to discuss further issues related to
major economies in the Asian region in general and to the ATFTA in particular.
He also visited his networked colleagues at Thammasat University to explore joint research and training
opportunities between the Vietnam Focus Research Program at the University of
Wollongong and the Faculty of Economics at Thammasat University for
several modules of the Greater Mekong
Project (GMP) being
funded by the Thai Government to Vietnam to assist Vietnam's current economic
development programs.
In the photo below taken on campus at
Also in the photo below taken on
campus at
Prof Tran Van Hoa (left) and Prof Pranee Nitakorn, Dean, Faculty of Economics,
New Asian
Regionalism in
18-19 September 2003,
Major important
issues and problems of one of Asia's hottest developments at the highest level
of government, namely new Asian regionalism
and its upshoots, free trade agreements, economic integration and closer
relations, were discussed at the 3rd Asia-Pacific Economic Forum (APEF) International Conference (The Conference Theme: New East Asian
Regionalism: Perspectives from Individual Countries)
at Japan's prestigious private university in Tokyo last week. The APEF was inaugurated
at
At the
conference, eminent participants and paper authors from eight major countries
in East Asia (China, Japan, Korea),
South-East Asia (Thailand) and West Asia (Iran), Oceania (Australia and New
Zealand) and the US presented and discussed their new
applied and analytical research findings of immense importance to not only
their own countries but also to regional and global economies including the
major trading blocs in the world. The topics include
new Asian regionalism and its regional and global impact and costs-benefits,
economic development and growth, trade, investment, East Asia energy
cooperation, regional production and distribution network, monetary
cooperation, development of a North-East Asian Development Bank, and economic
integration policy. At the Conference, Prof Yanyun
Zhao of the Renmin University of China in
In the photo taken at the APEF 3
Reception hosted by Keio University on Art Hills in Central Tokyo are (from
left to right) Lika Tanaka and Satoko Fukaya (Keio Postgraduate Students), Prof
Eiji Ogawa (Hitotsubashi University), Prof Chan-Hyun Sohn (Korea Institute for
International Economic Policy), Yuya Takahashi (Keio Postgraduate Student),
Prof Hiro Lee (ICSEAD, Japan), Prof Yanyun Zhao (Renmin University of China,
Beijing), Profs Huyn-Hoon Lee and Chung-Mo Koo (Kangwon National University,
Korea), Mitsuyo Ando (Research Associate, Keio University), Dr Komail Tayyebi
(University of Isfahan, Iran), Prof
In the photo
below taken at the main building at Keio University, Mita Campus, are (from
left to right) Prof Suthipand Chirathivat (Dean, Faculty of Economics,
Chulalongkorn University, Thailand), Prof Zongming Tang (Shanghai Jiaotong
University, China), Lika Tanaka, Prof Chung-Mo Koo, and Prof Robert Scollay
(PECC Member).
In the photo
below also taken at
In the photo
below taken at the Faculty Club at Keio University Mita Campus are (from left
to right) Prof Yanyun Zhao (Dean, Faculty of Statistics, Renmin University of
China,
THE BBC, THE WTO,
THE 2003 CANCUN AGENDA
AND ECONOMIC AND TRADE PROSPECTS
FOR
(Summary of a BBC Interview
with Tran Van Hoa
on 11 September 2003)
The 146-member
WTO Ministerial Meeting this week in Cancun, Mexico, has to deal not only with
anti-globalisation protesters but also a number of difficult post-Doha problems
faced by current WTO members and affecting aspiring WTO members especially
those in the agriculturally-based Asian region. To some analysts, the only
All this seems
to mean that the LDC members (especially those in the mainly agricultural-exports
regions) in the WTO may not gain substantial and quick trade and economic
benefits from their WTO memberships. A logical consequence is that
COMPETITION POLICY
AND LAW AND THEIR FUTURE
IN
10 September 2003
Prof Allan Fels, former
Chairman of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and
current
In the photo
below at a Commerce Faculty reception for Prof Allan Fels are (from left to
right) Profs Allan Fels, Tran Van Hoa (Allan's colleague and friend over 35
years from their days at the University of Western Australia and Monash
University) and John Glynn (Dean, Faculty of Commerce, University of
Wollongong).
Highly relevant
to the First Economics Public Lecture's theme above but with a focus and emphasis
on Asia's economic development and competitiveness is the publication by Edward Elgar in the UK and US, of a new book
by Tran Van Hoa with
the title Competition Policy and Global
Competitiveness in Major Asian Economies (see
photo and review below). The book is the
product of an APEC training project funded by the
Australian Government AusAID Agency and Wollongong International Business
Research Institute (IBRI). Its contents are at the level of the UNCTAD, WTO, APEC and ASEAN and
deal with the foundation of competition theory and new developments and
implementation of competition policy and law in major economies in East Asia,
South East Asia and
ENHANCING
ASIA-EUROPEAN
AND RESEARCH COLLABORATION
June 2003
Serious work on enhancing
ASEM network and research collaboration has been recently initiated by Prof
Tran Van Hoa during his visits to several prestigious research institutes and
universities in the European Union during June 2003. The purpose of the visits
was to communicate his recent research findings on ASEAN free trade agreement
and new Asian regionalism and to start cooperation or to strengthen the
existing network and association with EU academics and researchers who have
been working, either individually or on commission from the European
Commission, on important aspects and major issues in Asia-EU trade, investment
and international economic relations.
The visited institutes
include the Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE) and the
In the photo
below are Prof Guido Ferrari (left), Department of Statistics,
Vietnam-Australia
Friendship Association Meeting
at the
22 May 2003
The Chairman of
the Vietnam Australian Friendship Association (a society of government
officials, business people and Vietnamese alumni from Australia), Dr Luong Van
Ly, recently visited the Melbourhne Institute for Asian Languages and Societies
(MIALS) at the Sidney Myer Asia Centre at the University of Melbourne to meet
with experts on Vietnam to discuss high-education collaboration and
joint-venture opportunities in Southern Vietnam for Australian universities.
The visit is part of the program organised by the
Present for
discussion at the meeting at MIALS were Prof Tran Van Hoa (representing the
In the photo
taken at MIALS Meeting Room No. 1 below are, from left to right, Ms Ngan
Collins (Ph D student in Management), Dr Di Bretherton (Psychology-Trauma), Dr
Jane Fisher (Post Natal Depression), Prof Tran Van Hoa, Dr Luong Van Ly, Dr
Adam Fforde (Principal Fellow, MIALS), Dr Pip Nicholson (Asian Law Centre), Dr
Maureen Welch (Asian Education Foundation), Dr Jennifer Holmgren (DFAT
Executive Desk Officer), and Angela Kerry (Melbourne University).
A THEORY AND
PRACTICE TO DO BETTER FORECASTS
ANYTHING, ANYTIME AND ANYWHERE
by Tran Van Hoa
For millennia, it has been
the ambition of mankind, for selfish or pecuniary or altruist or noble reasons,
to see clearly or predict accurately things in the future, near or far.
Sometimes, it can do so with a divining rod, by looking at the sky or
mountains, by resorting to past occurrences, by using insider information, or
by a forecasting tool known by statistical experts as a forecasting model. A
forecasting model is simply a logical causal structure that stipulates that
things happening now depend on things happening to them in the past, and things
that will happen in the future depend on things happening to them before that.
This forecasting model consists of the required but unknown forecast itself and
its determinant factors (variables) and contributing strengths (parameters). The
form of this forecasting model is usually not known by anyone but determined or
chosen by the expert doing the forecasting. Given a forecasting model, its
variables and parameters, a forecast into the future can then be made. The
theory of forecasting used universally nowadays involves either that all
variables and parameters are known (the neo-classical or CGE or AGE or WTO
school) or that all variables are known but their parameters have to be
estimated from real-life data for realism (the realist or Keynesian school) or
a mixture of both. The estimation method used here is usually the ordinary
least-squares (OLS) or maximimum-likelihood (ML) that provides best linear
unbiased parameters when the model generating them is correctly formulated and
contains no omitted variable or no measurement error-in-variables. The
conditions are hardly met in all real-life situations and what we have been
given in all forecasting studies of this kind are simply biased and highly
inaccurate parameters and forecasts.
A new forecasting approach
proposed by Tran Van Hoa provides better forecasts on the issues arising above.
The approach states that, given any function in any form linking causally in
anyway a forecast (of anything) to its determining variables, a linear forecasting
(function-free) model can always be derived (Tran Van Hoa, 1992) and its
parameters can always be obtained by a new estimation theory (the so-called
two-stage hierarchical information (2SHI), also known as the improved Stein or
empirical Bayes) that produce always more accurate or better
in-average-squared-errors properties than all other existing estimation methods
currently in use (see for example, Tran Van Hoa, 1985, Tran Van Hoa and
Chaturvedi, 1997). Better forecasts can then be obtained from these better
estimated parameters. Applications of the new approach have been carried out
over the past 10 years or so in numerous scholarly and commissioned applied
studies involving economics, business, energy demand, trade, investment and
finance. Improved accuracy in forecasting in these studies
range from 10 to 150 per cent, an enormous achievement that can make or break
individual fortunes, expand or destroy giant businesses, discredit national and
international organisations, and change governments. Some studies
dealing with this new forecasting approach and applications are given in the
publications below.
A.V. Jennings
Industries in
10 March 2003
A.V. Jennings Industries P/L,
one of
In the photo below taken at a
luncheon reception at Phu Dong Restaurant in Central Hanoi in honour of Vic and Margaret Jennings are (from left to right,
standing) Margaret and Vic Jennings, (sitting) Mr Nguyen Chi (Senior Expert,
Ministry of Trade),
Dr Pham Quang Thao (Rector, NATI), Dr Bui Huu Dao (Director General,
Science Department, Ministry of Trade) and
Prof Tran Van Hoa.
Festschrift in
Honour of Prof Peter Lloyd
(of the Grubel-Lloyd Index fame)
Prof Tran Van
Hoa recently joined close colleagues and international friends of Peter Lloyd
to participate in a festschrift conference in the Faculty of Economics and
Commerce at the University of Melbourne (on 23-24 January 2003) to celebrate
Peter's long-standing and significant contribution to the theory of
international trade, notably his collaborative work with Herbert Grubel (a
Canadian economist then visiting the Australian National University) in
formalising the so-called Grubel-Lloyd Index of
Intra-industry Trade. Used extensively in the
profession as the main indicator of regional trade flows, the index has been able
to track more accurately the intensity of South East Asian countries' trade in
recent years and to provide an explanation for this region's spectacular growth
before the 1997
In the photo
below taken at the festschrift dinner hosted by the Department of Economics at
the
In the second
photo taken at a festschrift farewell cocktail function at Prof Lloyd's
residence are
(from left to right) Tran Van Hoa, Emeritus Prof Max
Corden and Prof Herbert Grubel.
The Melbourne
Institute's 40th Anniversary (1962-2002)
12 December 2002 and 7 February 2003
Tran Van Hoa
recently attended two 40th Anniversary Functions (12 December 2002 at the
University House, and 7 February 2003 at Ormond College, College Crescent,
Parkville) of the Melbourne Institute (also known as the Melbourne Institute of
Applied Economic and Social Research) at the University of Melbourne. Founded
in January 1963 by Prof Ronald Henderson shortly after his arrival from
Scotland and supported first by Prof Richard Downing (former Chairman of the
Australian Broadcasting Commission) and Dr Duncan Ironmonger, Deputy Director
(1972-1986) and Acting Director (1979-1984), and subsequently a succession of
Directors and Acting Directors in the past 18 years, the Institute has become
an icon and think-tank of the economics profession in Australia with particular
focus on national economic and social issues. Notable achievements by the
Institute in its early years include the founding of the Australian Economic Reviewby Duncan Ironmonger
in 1968 and the pioneering work by Ronald Henderson on poverty (resulting in
the famousHenderson Poverty Line) in
Attending the
anniversary functions were
In the photo below taken at the 40th Anniversary
Function at the University House on campus are (from left to right) Prof
Tran Van Hoa, Ms Diana Warren (a Research Fellow at the Institute and former
student of Tran Van Hoa and Dr David Johnson, Deputy/Acting Director of the Melbourne
Institute.
WTO,
Opportunitites, Challenges and Prospects
An international conference organised
by
the Asian Development Bank, the University of Hong Kong and the
University of Washington
Hong Kong 9-10 November 2002
Since
its accession to the WTO in 2001,
In the photo below
taken in front of the Fountains Garden in the Meng Wah Complex at the
University of Hong Kong are some of the Conference Session Chairs and Speakers:
(from left to right) Prof Tran Van Hoa (Director, ASEAN+3 Research Program,
Wollongong University), Dr Jean-Pierre A. Verbiest (Chief Economist, Asian
Development Bank), Dr Chira Hongladarom (Director, Foundation for International
Human Resource Development, Thailand), Prof Karyiu Wong (Conference
Co-organiser, RCIE, University of Washington), and Prof Tianshu Chu (East West
Center, Hawaii).
The difficult problems and challenging
issues of the Asia recovery from the 1997 crisis and subsequent policies for
reforms were discussed recently at an international
conference on
The conference was attended by over 280 national
and international economists, bankers, corporate executives, ministerial and
other high-ranking government officials from major countries in the Asian
region and the International Monetarty Fund and the World Bank. Tran Van Hoa
participated in the conference as a session chair, a session discussant and
also presented a paper on disturbing issues crying for serious focus in Economic
Crisis Management in Asia. At the panel discussions, he also raised a
number of questions on the still ineffectiveness, five years on, of
international organisations' rescue and reform policies for crisis economies in
In the photo below taken at the
Conference Reception Dinner hosted by the Thammasat University Economic
Association and with Special Guest Speaker, the Governor of the Bank of
Thailand, at the Imperial Queens Park Hotel in Bangkok are (from left to right)
Ms Daranee (Secretary General of the Thammasat
University Economic Association), Dr Naris Chaiyasoot (Rector, Thammasat
University), Dr Sukanya Nitungkorn (Dean, Faculty of Economics, Thammasat University),
Dr Wichai (Bank of Thailand), Prof Tran Van Hoa, Dr Prapasorn (Vice Rector,
Thammasat University), and Prof Watchareeya (Faculty of Economics, Thammasat
University).
In the photo below at the same
reception are (from left to right) Professor Tran
Van Hoa and his former student (Dr
November 2002
The role played by Australia and other Western
countries in assisting major developing economies in the Asian region to
enhance their capacity for economic development, trade and investment
liberalisation, and structural reform in the face of increasing globalisation,
WTO membership requirement, international competitiveness and crises can be
assessed via these countries' numerous aid programs over the years. Vietnam is
one of these few developing economies that has also developed its own funded
programs for joint vocational and degree education in commerce, business and IT
in collaboration especially with Australian post-sedondary and tertiary
institutions. The Vietnam Focus and ASEAN+3 Research Program at Wollongong
University has, through its Director, Prof Tran Van Hoa, been actively involved
in some of these off-shore activities to enhance the capacity and skills
standards of Vietnam's government officials, corporrate executives and
postgraduate students in this education.
In the photo below taken at the
ceremony at the University of Wollongong to sign a Memorandum of Intent for an
off-shore one-year Master of Commerce degree course to be jointly delivered in
Vietnam by Wollongong and Vietnam Ministry of Trade staff are (from left to
right) Prof Tran Van Hoa, Dr Nguyen Thi Thu Nguyet (Rector, Ho Chi Minh City
College of Foreign Economic Relations, Vietnam Ministry of Trade). Prof Rob Castle (Pro Vice-Chancellor (Academic),
Asia Pacific Economic Forum (APEF) International Conference:
Impact of Asia and Terrorist Attack Crises
on New Asian Regionalism, Growth and Trade, Globalisation and the WTO
in Asia and
The Asia Pacific Economic Forum (APEF) had its first international
conference (conference organisers: Profs Tran Van Hoa and Charles Harvie) at
the
Paper contributors and speakers at the conference consist of
international high-level academics and government officials (including a former
Dean of Commerce and the Ritchie Professor of Economics from the University of
Melbourne, a former Minister of the Economy from the Philippines and a Deputy
Minister of Small and Medium-Size Enterprises (SME) from Indonesia) from 7 major
Asian countries (China, Indonesia, Korea, Japan, the Philippines, Thailand and
Vietnam) plus Australia and New Zealand. Participants also include economists
from
APEF (also known as the Soohyan Club) is a new international economics
group set up in May 2001 at the
APEF’s objectives are to research, discuss and disseminate
substantive findings and information on development, growth, trade, regional
integration and international economic relations in APEC countries with special
focus on East Asia, South East Asia and Oceania. APEF is a new regional
initiative by major Asian countries to rival such organisations as the World
Economic Forum (and the World Social Forum) and to promote an Asian identity
and characteristics and scope of studies and collaboration.
ASEAN+3 (ASEAN + China, Korea and Japan) and ASEAN+5 (ASEAN+3 plus
Australia and New Zealand, a current trade arrangement supported by Prime
Ministers John Howard (Australia) and Helen Clark (New Zealand)) are two
specific areas of interest to APEF studies.
2001 APEF memberships include academics from high-level universities in
the
In the photo at the opening ceremony of the APEF
international conference on campus at the University of Wollongong are (from
left to right) Prof Tran Van Hoa, Prof Yanyun Zhao (People University of China,
Beijing), Prof John Glynn (Dean of Faculty of Commerce, UOW), Prof Margaret
Sheil (Pro Vice Chancellor – Research), Dr Nguyen The Dzung (the World
Bank, Vietnam), the Hon. Dr Stephen Martin (Member of Parliament for Cunningham
and Shadow Minister for Trade and Tourism), Dr Sur Nustrisno (Deputy Minister
for the Ministry of Small and Medium-Size Enterprises, Indonesia), Prof H.H.
Lee (Kangwon National University, Korea), Prof Peter Lloyd (Ritchie Research
Professor and former Dean of Commerce, University of Melbourne), Prof Apichai
Puntasen (Thammasat University, Thailand), and Prof Charles Harvie (Director,
the SME Research Centre, UOW).
Can the WTO Effectively Enhance World
Trade and
Improve Member-Country Welfare?
29-30 June 2002
While globalisation and the WTO have the
common objectives of increasing world trade and standards-of-living, the
conditions required to achieve these are numerous, burdensome and may be
difficult to meet for many member-countries or countries that aspire to be WTO
members in the near future. These and other related issues were discussed at a
recent international conference at the
Organised jointly by Prof Karyiu Wong
(University of Washington in Seattle, USA) and Prof Guenter Heiduk (Gerhard
Mercator University - Mercator or Kremer, the inventor of the 16th century
Mercator world map-projection system), the conference brought together
well-known economic experts world-wide to discuss those important issues,
recent advances in international trade theory underlying the WTO objectives and
globalisation, the problems faced by WTO members in implementing the
organisation’s basic principles, issues in dispute settlements, and WTO
and China. The conference organisers plan to publish the presented papers as a
book.
Representing the
In the photo below are, from left to right,
Professors Karyiu Wong, Tran Van Hoa and Guenter Heiduk at the
Problems with
Lessons in Our Recent Economic Crisis Management
April 2002
During 2000/01, more than a few national and especially international
economic and financial analysts, advisers and consultants made a rather bold
assertion that, after more than four years of a damaging slowdown in crisis
economies in Asia in particular and in other major economic or free-trade blocs
in general, there were promising signs of a strong economic recovery in Asia.
This prediction did not, however, turn out to be correct as we have come to
experience a great deal of old and new problems, economic, financial, social
and political, unfolding in crisis economies and beyond since then. The
bottom-line effect of all these problems is unfortunately that it has portrayed
a mismanagement of economic and financial crises and this has been seriously
hampering a real recovery in these economies. What kind of lessons have we
learned then from the 1997
Some of the major issues associated with or
conducive to a real Asia recovery and new ideas to develop better or more
appropriate economic and financial crisis management in the years to come are
discussed or dealt with in two new books (The Asia Recovery, 2001, and Economic Crisis
Management, 2002). Both books were edited by Prof Tran Van Hoa and published by Edward Elgar in the
Asia Crisis: What Crisis for
May 2002
A recent important book, edited by Prof Tran Van Hoa (
AUSAID WORK AND FUTURE STRATEGIES
IN
27 March 2002
Prof Tran Van Hoa, Director of the Vietnam and
ASEAN+ Research Program at the University of Wollongong, recently attended the
2002 New South Wales-Vietnam Chamber of Commerce Annual General Meeting in
Sydney to discuss an executive report on Ausaid work and its future strategies
for Vietnam. The AGM was co-ordinated by Mr Laurence Strano, President of the
NSW-VN Chamber of Commerce, and the report was presented by the
Prof Tran Van Hoa’s recent work on
The AGM function was attended by over 70
business leaders, academics, and diplomats from
In the photo are, from left to right, Prof
Tran Van Hoa, Miss Tran Thuy Nga (a Master of International Business student at
Wollongong University), Dr Dinh Thi My Loan (Vietnam’s Commercial Consul
and Head of Vietnam Trade Office in Sydney), and Mr Bill Costello (Vietnam
Director, AusAID-DFAT in Canberra).
ASEAN+ and SME Research Centres at
2002
8 March 2002
The Department of Economics in the Faculty of
Commerce at Wollongong University was prominently represented at an important
international conference 2002 CHINA UPDATE at the Australian National
University on 8 March (International Women Day) 2002. The conference’s
objectives were to assess up-to-date economic and reform developments in
Representing the
The 2002
Present at the Conference were members of
parliament, academics, business leaders, senior government officials, diplomats
and doctoral students. Notably present were the Hon Dr Stephen Martin (an
Economics Graduate from UOW and an MP for Cunningham and Shadow Minister for
Trade and Tourism), Sir Arvi Parbo (Australia’s top businessman and
Chairman of Western Mining Corporation), and senior representatives from, among
others, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Embassy of the
Philippines, the Embassy of Vietnam, Citigroup, and the Commonwealth Bank of
Australia.
In the photo taken in the Peninsula Foyer
(overlooking Lake Burley Griffin) at the National Museum of Australia in
Canberra are (from left to right), Ms Sarah Wong (ANU), Dr Mei Wen (RSPAS,
ANU), Prof Tran Van Hoa, and Ms Tracy Simms (Marketing Manager, Ganlo Pty Ltd).
UOW’s
University of
The celebration was not only for
the traditional annual Spring festive season observed
in
The
Attending the celebration were
business leaders from the Vietnamese-Australian community in NSW, academics and
In the photo taken at the
Vietnam’s Consulate-General in Sydney were, from left to right, Professor
Tran Van Hoa, Dr Dinh Thi My Loan (Vietnam’s Commercial Consul and Head
of Vietnam Trade Office in Sydney), Mrs Nguyen Van Tho and the Hon. Nguyen Van
Tho, Vietnam’s Consul-General.
Focus on e-commerce, e-business
and e-trade
in ASEAN+3 economies
19-20 November 2001
E-commerce, e-business and e-trade and their
other related areas including B2B, B2C, B2G, regulation, protection and uptake
have recently been discussed at a conference organised by the Australian
Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) on 19-20 November 2001 in Melbourne,
Australia. These are the current issues relevant not only to Australia but also
to other major economies in Asia who are trying to adapt and reform in order to
catch up or restructure to deal with emerging problems in economic development
and growth, expanding borderless trade, and increasing globalisation.
Prof Tran Van Hoa, Director of the Vietnam+
Research Program at the University of Wollongong, attended the conference to
exchange ideas and to gather experiences on e-commerce, e-business and e-trade
and also on relevant and effective ways to assist major developing economies in
Asia (such as Vietnam, China and Thailand) in capacity-building and
infrastructure setting-up in these areas. A major training project on
e-commerce skills standards and operability for e-experts in these countries
with expected AusAID-APEC funding is being prepared by him in collaboration
with Vietnam Ministry of Trade, the ACCC and other educational institutions in
In the photo are an ACCC Commissioner on IT, Dr
David Cousins, and Prof Tran Van Hoa, in the e-commerce conference hall at the
Melbourne Conference Centre, South Bank,
PROMOTING INTERNATIONAL NETWORK, COMMERCE
RESEARCH COLLABORATION AND EDUCATION IN
December 2001
The international network,
research collaboration and education standing of the Faculty of Commerce at the
University of Wollongong were further significantly enhanced recently in two
major Asian transition countries, namely China and Vietnam, with two important
lectures (1-4 December 2001) and a major conference (19 December 2001)
organised and delivered by senior staff in the Department of Economics on
current top world economic and commerce issues. During the lecturing visits,
important areas and issues on future research and education collaboration were
also discussed.
In China, the first lecture was on
Implications for Asia and Australia of the ASEAN+China
Free Trade Agreement (which was endorsed by the (10-member)
ASEAN Leaders at their 7th ASEAN Summit and 5th ASEAN+3 Summit in Brunei on 5
November 2001) and given by Prof Tran Van Hoa, Coordinator of the Vietnam and
ASEAN+ Research Program in the Faculty’s International Business Research
Institute (IBRI), to the prestigious Financial Policy Research Centre of the
People University of China in Beijing.
The second lecture was on Measuring
the Impact of China’s World Trade Organisation Membership (WTO
143rd member, which was endorsed by the WTO at its 4th Ministerial Meeting in
Doha on 11 November 2001 and ratified by China on 11 December 2001) on
its Investment and Growth and also delivered by Prof Tran
van Hoa to the Aetna School of Management of the Shanghai Jiaotong University. Shanghai Jiaotong University is China’s top university and
the alter mater of China’s current President, Jiang Zeming, as well as
other leaders of China’s government departments, state-owned-enterprises
and private businesses.
In
These high-profile activities by
University of Wollongong's internationally well-known senior academics with
China’s top-rung universities and Vietnam’s economic policy think
tank attracted a large number of attendants (academic staff, postgraduate
students, government officials and corporate executives) as well as several international students from the University of
Wollongong who were on holiday or on study fieldtrip in China and Vietnam
during the southern Summer 2001.
In the photo below on RUC’s
Haidian campus are (on the left) Prof Yulu Chen, Vice-Dean of the School of
Finance and Director of China's Financial Policy Research Centre of the People
University of China in Beijing, and Prof Tran Van Hoa.
In the photo below at a reception
in the Faculty Club of
In the third photo at the Opening
Ceremony of the Conference on Competitiveness and Globalisation at the
headquarter of CIEM, Ministry of Planning and Investment, in Hanoi, Vietnam,
are (from left to right) Prof Charles Harvie, Prof Chaiyuth Punyasavatsut
(Thammasat University, Bangkok, Thailand), Ms Sonya McKay (a lawyer and
Australia's Green Party MP Candidate), Prof Tran Van Hoa, Dr Le Dang Doanh
(President of CIEM and Adviser to MPI Minister), and Dr Dinh Van An (incoming
President of CIEM).
VIETNAM
8TH ANNIVERSARY AT THE ICTC, VIETNAM MINISTRY OF TRADE
AND THAMMASAT UNIVERSITY (ECONOMICS)
LINK
The
Director of
During
its 8 years of operation, the ICTC, with the collaboration from foreign experts
and institutions, especially the
In the
photo taken in front of the ICTC Activity Picture Gallery on 1 October 2001 at
the headquarter of the ICTC in Hanoi are (from left) Dr Nguyen The Hung
(Director of ICTC), Prof Tran Van Hoa, Miss Thu Huong (ICTC Executive
Assistant), and Dr Ho Trung Thanh (Vice-Director of ICTC).
During
his field-trip to Thailand and Vietnam, Prof Tran Van Hoa also visited
Thammasat University in Bangkok to discuss with staff in the Faculty of
Economics on further links and collaboration between the University of
Wollongong and Thammasat on post-1997 crisis economics research and e-commerce
courses and IT training for major developing countries in Asia (such as China,
Thailand and Vietnam).
The
initial link and collaboration with
In the
photo taken at the Faculty of Economics at
Dr Sukanya Nitungkorn (Dean of Economics)
and Prof Tran Van Hoa.
