The International Management Institute (IMI) Kolkata hosted a first-ever international finance and economics conference (FINECON) on December 21 at the institute’s campus.
The conference was conducted in collaboration with Sichuan Academy of Social Sciences China, North South University Bangladesh, and the Asia-Pacific Economic Association. The inaugural event was attended by academicians, economists and industry heads.
Attendees
Those attending the conference included economists Arindam Banik, Director of IMI Kolkata; Kar-yiu Wong, Professor of Economics, University of Washington; Prof Zheng Taian, Vice-President of Sichuan Academy of Social Sciences, China; Prof Mohammad Mahboob Rahman, Dean of the School of Business and Economics, North South University, Bangladesh; Chung Mo Koo, Professor of Economics, Kangwon National University, Korea; and Sarojakshaya Chatterjee, Dean MDP and head of the department of finance at IMI Kolkata.
The inaugural address was delivered by Kar-yiu Wong, a well-known economist who has published numerous papers on international trade and economic growth. He recently launched two new journals, China Economic Policy Review and Global Journal of Economics .
One Belt, One Road initiative
In his keynote speech, The Economic Impacts of the One Belt, One Road Initiative , Wong spoke about the potential of developing economic relations between Asia and Europe that would have tremendous economic implications for nations in both these regions.
The One Belt, One Road (OBOR) initiative would focus on developing land and sea routes to connect more than 60 nations of Europe and Asia and facilitate trade in these regions to usher in economic development and consumer surpluses.
The OBOR initiative will proceed in four key stages, namely promotion, negotiation, building of infrastructure and the post-construction stage which will focus on fostering strong and sustainable economic relations among nations to expedite the initiative. The Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway project in Indonesia is a part of this initiative. Wong also spoke about the implications of this initiative on export, import and welfare as we know it.
Wong used economic variables and graphs and relatable examples to explain complex models that would otherwise be hard to comprehend for the uninitiated. He concluded the session with the suggestion that economies like India should adopt a defensive policy in order to safeguard citizen welfare while it trades with other nations.