Cover Story - Getting Road Ready for Education and Research

[Sponsored article] As both an educator and a research powerhouse, the HKUST Business School can help executives and entrepreneurs seize the opportunities opened up by OBOR.

The faculty at the HKUST Business School is well aware of the huge potential of OBOR project - and the part the School can play in turning this potential into reality.

“Many of the more than 60 countries covered by the initiative are developing countries,” points out Professor Tam Kar Yan, Dean of HKUST Business School. “With the developed economies starting to slow down, any global expansion will be dependent on growth in these developing countries.”

The School’s Professor of Economics Albert Park, who is also Director of HKUST’s Institute for Emerging Market Studies (IEMS), points out that recent political developments in the world’s largest economy have given OBOR even greater impetus.

“The Trump administration’s clear intention to be tough on trade opens up opportunities for both China and One Belt, One Road countries and should encourage an acceleration of ties - especially in Asia,” Professor Park says. “The US has already formally withdrawn from the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, which excluded China, providing  China with an opportunity to play a greater leadership role in shaping trade and investment relationships with many fast-growing countries in the region.”

Although OBOR is the brainchild of President Xi Jinping, Emeritus Professor of Economics of the School Francis Lui believes it must, as the President himself has noted, benefit all parties involved, not just China.