2008 Press Releases
UCC co-hosts Asia Europe Foundation (ASEF) Conference in Beijing
20.10.2008
University College Cork (UCC), through its Institute of Chinese Studies, co-hosted a meeting of Asia Europe Foundation (ASEF) in Beijing on October 17th-18th 2008.
20.10.2008
University College Cork (UCC), through its Institute of Chinese Studies, co-hosted a meeting of Asia Europe Foundation (ASEF) in Beijing on October 17th-18th 2008.
ASEF is charged with developing policy proposals and recommendations on actions to the formal summit of EU and ASEAN leaders (ASEM). UCC joined with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the Centre for Regional Integration Studies of the United Nations University, and ASEF, to organise the conference. Its recommendations and proposals will be presented to Heads of State and of Government at the 7th ASEM summit in Beijing later this week.
The theme of the conference was 'Connecting Civil Societies III: An Asia-Europe Dialogue on Economy and Society'. More than 60 representatives from academia, NGOs, enterprises and government bodies in the 43 member states participated. The conference was briefed on the agenda for the upcoming summit by Ambassador Wang Xue Xian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, China and Mr Hervé Ladsous, Ambassador of France to China, on behalf of the EU presidency. Speakers included Dr Klaus Regling, Director-General, European Commission - Economic and Financial Affairs, who addressed turbulence in the financial markets, Dr Christer Holtsberg, Director of the Swedish Environmental Secretariat for Asia who outlined challenges in energy and oil supplies, and Professor Li Chenggui, Executive Director, Agricultural Development Institute Chinese Academy of Social Sciences who discussed food and environmental security.
The UCC delegation was led by its President, Dr Michael Murphy, and included Professor Fan Hong, Head of the Irish Institute for Chinese Studies, and Institute staff member Dr Jorn-Carsten Gottwald and Dr Andrew Cottey from the Department of Government.
In his remarks at the opening Dr. Murphy recounted common features of the Irish and Asian "tiger economies" over the past 20 years. "Ireland has shared with several Asian countries, in a very similar timeframe, dramatic transformation from being poor to being economically quite successful. The core strategies of this astonishingly fast economic development innovation bear striking resemblance to one another. The ingredients of the small Irish economic miracle, the Celtic Tiger and the antecedent Asian Tigers, derive from deliberately opening doors to foreign investment, from training and educating our people to cope with the challenges of modernisation, and from creating new centers of excellence in key areas such as bio-technology, ICT and financial services."
In his speech Dr Murphy committed UCC to being a partner with ASEF in its mission to promote better understanding between Europeans and Asians through the international education agenda. He outlined plans to add to the Institute of Chinese Studies at UCC by accommodating Korean Studies in 2009, supported by the Korean Embassy and Korean Foundation, and Japanese Studies by 2010. UCC also committed to hosting an ASEF research fellow annually from an Asian country from next year.
The second International Conference of the Irish Institute of Chinese Studies (UCC) will take place at UCC on November 14th on the theme "The Rise of Asia and the Challenge for Europe". There are plans to launch a new Asia Studies Ireland Association (ASIA) to promote collaboration in teaching, learning and research among all the Irish universities.
877MMcS
The theme of the conference was 'Connecting Civil Societies III: An Asia-Europe Dialogue on Economy and Society'. More than 60 representatives from academia, NGOs, enterprises and government bodies in the 43 member states participated. The conference was briefed on the agenda for the upcoming summit by Ambassador Wang Xue Xian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, China and Mr Hervé Ladsous, Ambassador of France to China, on behalf of the EU presidency. Speakers included Dr Klaus Regling, Director-General, European Commission - Economic and Financial Affairs, who addressed turbulence in the financial markets, Dr Christer Holtsberg, Director of the Swedish Environmental Secretariat for Asia who outlined challenges in energy and oil supplies, and Professor Li Chenggui, Executive Director, Agricultural Development Institute Chinese Academy of Social Sciences who discussed food and environmental security.
The UCC delegation was led by its President, Dr Michael Murphy, and included Professor Fan Hong, Head of the Irish Institute for Chinese Studies, and Institute staff member Dr Jorn-Carsten Gottwald and Dr Andrew Cottey from the Department of Government.
In his remarks at the opening Dr. Murphy recounted common features of the Irish and Asian "tiger economies" over the past 20 years. "Ireland has shared with several Asian countries, in a very similar timeframe, dramatic transformation from being poor to being economically quite successful. The core strategies of this astonishingly fast economic development innovation bear striking resemblance to one another. The ingredients of the small Irish economic miracle, the Celtic Tiger and the antecedent Asian Tigers, derive from deliberately opening doors to foreign investment, from training and educating our people to cope with the challenges of modernisation, and from creating new centers of excellence in key areas such as bio-technology, ICT and financial services."
In his speech Dr Murphy committed UCC to being a partner with ASEF in its mission to promote better understanding between Europeans and Asians through the international education agenda. He outlined plans to add to the Institute of Chinese Studies at UCC by accommodating Korean Studies in 2009, supported by the Korean Embassy and Korean Foundation, and Japanese Studies by 2010. UCC also committed to hosting an ASEF research fellow annually from an Asian country from next year.
The second International Conference of the Irish Institute of Chinese Studies (UCC) will take place at UCC on November 14th on the theme "The Rise of Asia and the Challenge for Europe". There are plans to launch a new Asia Studies Ireland Association (ASIA) to promote collaboration in teaching, learning and research among all the Irish universities.
877MMcS