The ability of the College of Law at Hamad Bin Khalifa University to foster dialogue and collaboration with like-minded global institutions was recently demonstrated at a one-day collaborative online workshop.
The event on 'Special Economic Zones in International Economic Law: Towards Unilateral Economic Law', attracted renowned academics.
Organised in collaboration with the School of Law at the City University of Hong Kong, the workshop consisted of a series of presentations clustered around specific research streams. These included: the application of international investment and trade law to special economic zones; human rights, labour and tax issues; and intra-zone dispute resolution.
Academic participants included Julien Chaisse, professor of law, City University of Hong Kong School of Law, and Irma Mosquera, associate professor, Leiden Law School.
An international organisation perspective was provided by Douglas Zeng, senior economist at the World Bank’s Financial and Private Sector Development Department of the Africa Region.
Private sector insights came courtesy of Politas Consulting’s Morial Shah. Huw Davies, Chief Legal Officer (Interim) of the Qatar Free Zones Authority, also participated as chair of one of the sessions.
For its part, HBKU College of Law was represented by Dr Georgios Dimitropoulos, associate professor of law, who was the co-convener of the workshop.
Susan L Karamanian, dean of HBKU College of Law, said, “As a country with two special economic zone regimes, Qatar has more than a passing interest in the legal instruments and mechanisms that underpin their commercial activities and operations. The same is also true of our neighbours and those countries represented here by workshop participants. Moreover, special economic zones are not only commonplace along major trading routes, they are often located at geographical crossroads.”
Organised in collaboration with the School of Law at the City University of Hong Kong, the workshop consisted of a series of presentations clustered around specific research streams. These included: the application of international investment and trade law to special economic zones; human rights, labour and tax issues; and intra-zone dispute resolution.
Academic participants included Julien Chaisse, professor of law, City University of Hong Kong School of Law, and Irma Mosquera, associate professor, Leiden Law School.
An international organisation perspective was provided by Douglas Zeng, senior economist at the World Bank’s Financial and Private Sector Development Department of the Africa Region.
Private sector insights came courtesy of Politas Consulting’s Morial Shah. Huw Davies, Chief Legal Officer (Interim) of the Qatar Free Zones Authority, also participated as chair of one of the sessions.
For its part, HBKU College of Law was represented by Dr Georgios Dimitropoulos, associate professor of law, who was the co-convener of the workshop.
Susan L Karamanian, dean of HBKU College of Law, said, “As a country with two special economic zone regimes, Qatar has more than a passing interest in the legal instruments and mechanisms that underpin their commercial activities and operations. The same is also true of our neighbours and those countries represented here by workshop participants. Moreover, special economic zones are not only commonplace along major trading routes, they are often located at geographical crossroads.”
